Persecution – Are my hands clean?

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In today’s message we conclude our focus on the Beatitudes by finishing with a discussion on persecution (Matthew 5:10). But today we think of persecution in terms of not so much what people do to us, but what we do to other people. As we look at Exodus 1 let’s consider the following:

We invite persecution when we forget: Pharaoh forgot all that Joseph had done for Isreal, thus paving the way for the persecution of the Hebrews. When we forget the story that makes us who we are we pave a way for the enemy to speak and act through us. Let’s not be guilty of forgetting who we are as a church and all these Beatitudes we’ve spent so much time talking about.

When we forget, we fear: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Men hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they are so often separated from each other.” Can we rise above our own issues and seek to pull down walls of separation, so that we can take chances on knowing people, so that we can prevent fear, jealously, hate and the so many of the effects of fear?

When we fear, we force: We force the minds of others, we fabricate lies and deception when we fear others. As a result, imprisonment and exile are impressed upon others – and this is in the context of Christian / church life!

Let’s make sure that as a church we cause ZERO fatalities! Let’s put our hearts and minds on guard against forgetting, against fear, and against forcing others so that we will have no fatalities.

 

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