Riverside Community Church
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-Jesus said, where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name there I am in the midst. And here we are gathered together in His Name. Let that sink in for a moment -Jesus is among us.
-Christ is positively with us right now and this Living Word, Christ, speaks through the Written Word to us, right now, right here.
& Come O Christ and awaken your words in me.**nbsp;
-it is around 30 A.D., Jesus is on the side of a ‘Mount’, NorthWest of the Sea of Galilee
speaking/preaching to a large crowd of people, It’s His 1st public sermon and Jesus is laying out the blueprint for life, a life manual for everybody. An instructional guide on how we are to act, how we are to think & how we are to please God.
-This sermon highlights a wide range of life topics and is a concise summary of what God thinks. Do you want to know what God thinks, what is on His mind? Well, Jesus, Son of God, tells us in plain language🡪what God thinks, what God wants to say to us/you and what God’s priorities are.
Jesus speaks now, He has just spoken the ‘Beatitudes’. Listen to His next words. & Come O Christ and awaken your words in me.
Matthew 5:11-12 New Century Version
11**nbsp;“People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.
Jesus continues with the Sermon on the mount which I call the ‘God Sermon’, with some words of warning, words of comfort and of hope.
Quick Summary
The warning -it’s coming, Insults, hurts, being lied about and people speaking evil against you. it’s coming against you.
The Comfort –it’s OK they did it to Me and the prophets.
-I will bless you in this -so rejoice.
The hope -great rewards await you,
God approves and supports you.
This adversity against Christianity, against us as Christians/Christ followers, is the outside attacking us, it is the outside adversary. And it is real, not imaginary, not just in our heads, it is not delusional, no, but this insulting, hurtful, lying and evil speaking overt oppositional adversary is right in your face.
-People generally, look at various religions like Islam or Hinduism with dignity and respect, they have practices that people don’t agree with but generally people give them leeway and give them dignity and respect. This respect is even taken to the extreme whereby in Canada any, I mean any, opposition to Islam is referred to as Islamophobia.
Christianity is treated differently; it is openly and quickly mocked. It is constantly attacked, belittled, derided, scorned and disrespected.
Joe Rogan said, “Christianity at the end of the day with no proof, … is mythology.” “If you have some proof that there was a God, that this God had one son and he made the son come down and get the ____ beat out of him and nailed to a board so that we could all have no sin. Can you show me some studies? Do you have a box of Evidence?” It’s mythology.
I’d like to answer Joe. Can I answer Joe Rogan in front of you?
He said: “Christianity at the end of the day with no proof, (3 proofs of Christianity -3 Cs -Creation, Conscience and Christ -His resurrection...”
“If you have some proof that there was a God (Joe -Creation -look Joe, look), that this God had one son (Joe see the Virgin birth -the witness of the shepherds, Joe -what about the 100+ OT prophecies all coming true) and he made the son come down and get the ____ beat out of him and nailed to a board so that we could all have no sin (no sin? Conscience -Joe -you know right and wrong exists). Can you show me some studies? Do you have a box of Evidence?” -Resurrection, Joe, the resurrection. Christ foretold it, Christ endured it and Christ rose from the dead as testified to by the MANY, MANY witnesses. You just won’t believe Joe, despite evidence that demands a verdict you refuse to believe, to put your faith in the Christ of the resurrection.
-Why do people not believe? And then why are Christians mocked, belittled, derided, scorned and disrespected?
1 Corinthians 1:23 New International Version
23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
-It simply doesn’t make sense to most people. People want empirical truth; they want to see absolute proof. What people don’t want is to pick up a cross, be confronted about sin or be told if you do evil you hate the light. --> so it becomes foolishness to most.
-to the Jews, Christ can’t be the Messiah, because we’re still waiting for Him. We want the Messiah to deliver us from political tyranny not deliverance from sin, my sin. Jews stumble over their own pride and unbelief.
Hence Christians get hit from both sides, both Jews and Gentiles,
They say to us: -it’s a bunch of myths, that’s ridiculous, how dare you say that I’m wrong -a sinner, Christianity is childishness, Christ didn’t rise from the dead -Like the Muslims say in the Quran -some one else died on that cross (it wasn’t Christ).
They say about Christianity that it is:
-a faith of violence (OT), -they forget God so loved the world -always did
- They say: that there’s corruption in the church -they forget we’re all sinners
- They say: that Christianity is mere superstition, some kind of hokey pokey wizardly spirit belief
- They say: that Christianity is polytheistic, multiple gods like the ancient Romans, not remembering that we believe that there is 1 God only, non-beside that 1 God and only this 1 God is worthy for us to believe in and to worship.
-I have been criticized as a Christian of being homophobic, of being a bigot, of being abusive of women’s rights, and exclusionary in practice.
Matthew 5:11-12 New Century Version
11 “People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.
Here's my understanding of how we should handle insults, hurts, lies and evil things said against us;
-You will be blessed, not possibly blessed or a possible benefit
But rather YOU WILL BE BLESSED -how God blesses is up to our trustworthy God.
-rejoice my friend, let your soul smile at this kind of evil because
Others like the prophets and even Jesus went through this.
-With joy (rejoice) Jesus went through it because He knew what was ahead. We too are headed for -reward, approval, applause, a heavenly home, all from God. Have this hope of future benefit, rejoice.
Please Note: We must not react to unkind words or lies, like the world reacts. No, our standard is higher, our standard is Christ, and we follow Christ.
Have the right attitude when people mock, deride and talk ‘bad’ about you. Don’t think ‘poor me’, they hurt me but rather think Praise God, my light is shining.
Here are some random thoughts on why Christianity and Christians are insulted, mocked, spoken evil of and lied about.
The Christian is a mirror to the world, showing them their true selves, and they have only two choices: to accept what they see as the truth, or throw rocks at the mirror so they won’t have to face it.
Christians threaten the world’s values, self-image, and authority. That’s not surprising but expected. God is calling the world to Himself through you. Praise God, you’re making a difference, people see Christ in you. It’s ok, all this will be rewarded. Keep shining for Jesus.
#3 To some extent it is the contrast of a Christian to the world that invites opposition, ridicule and mocking.
(Illus)
There’s a classic experiment that some psychologists performed half a century or so ago, taking an ordinary brown monkey out of its cage, dying its fur pink, and then they put the pink monkey back in the cage. The other monkeys immediately attacked it. Difference alone is enough. We are the world’s conscience and we are different.
Praise God, you’re different, people see Christ in you. It’s ok, all this will be rewarded. Keep shining for Jesus.
#4 Jesus is to blame, Praise the name of Jesus!
"Blessed are you when people . . . say all manner of evil against you falsely, for mysake …”
-Speaking evil against you doesn’t have to be overtly abusive. . . just untrue, designed to make people think less of Christians and to discount what they say and believe. Remember, it’s because of Jesus, it’s an attack on our Savior.
#5
-On the other hand, people can misrepresent the facts in order to get Christians into trouble with the authorities. When people mis-characterize ie. -pro-life Christians as advocating bombing abortion clinics, that is the kind of false accusation. Remember, it’s because of Jesus, it’s always an attack on our Savior.
In insults, hurts, mockings, lies and evil words against you:
&Take it like a Christian become better for it, grow in it and rejoice over it, don**rsquo;t become bitter, defensive and don’t retaliate.
In insults, hurts, mocking’s, lies and evil words against you:
**Have the Christian attitude, let your light shine brighter, advance the Gospel through letting your light shine. Let your courage grow through opposition which will, in turn, produce more opportunity.
Rejoice, my fellow Christian, great is your reward, Christ is honoured
