“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.” (Mt 5:16)
“Happy
Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You!” We sing about being happy.
We do what we can to make a crying baby happy. We buy homes, cars,
and toys to make us happy. We are happy when we are surrounded by
friends and family. We listen to comedians to make us happy. We take
drugs to make us happy. And yet we're not happy. What's up with that?
Could
it be that we are not happy, because God didn't create us to be
happy? Happiness is dependent on happenings. If everything is going
smoothly and everyone is doing what I want them to do, then I can be
happy. But if something changes my plans, someone crosses my path, I
am no longer happy, nor am I expected to be happy. Did you notice how
selfish those two sentences are? I will be happy if things are going
my way. If they are not going my way, then I will not be happy.
Happiness is truly selfish.
We
are never commanded by God to be happy, but we are commanded to
rejoice. Is there a difference?
In
Matthew 5-7, Jesus is instructing His followers about His rules for
life on earth. Not the rules of society or of religious leaders, but
the rules of our Master. And what does He say about rejoicing?
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all
kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt 5:11-12). Does
that sound like “Happy Birthday?” It's clearly not a party.
The
command to rejoice and be exceedingly glad is right in the middle of
a description of persecution. When people are ridiculing you,
persecuting you, and falsely accusing you because of your testimony
about your life in Christ, rejoice! That doesn't sound like cake and
ice cream, does it?
Jesus
expects you to rejoice in the midst of persecution. Why? How can He
expect you to rejoice when people are making fun of your relationship
with Him? “For great is your reward in heaven.” When your
happiness is dictated by your happenings and nothing more, you will
find little reason to be happy. But when your joy is guided by the
hope of eternal rewards then your happenings are not that important.
What
others might say about you is nothing in comparison to hearing your
loving Master say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
(Mt 25:21). The physical abuse that you might receive for standing up
for Jesus has no lasting effect when you remember that your body is
going to be transformed to a glorious body (Phil 3:20-21). Even
martyrdom for the sake of Christ is cause for rejoicing (Mt 10:28; 2
Tim 4:6-8).
Rejoicing
in the midst of persecution is repeated throughout the book of Acts
and the Epistles. In Acts 5, the disciples, who had heard Jesus
preach about rejoicing in suffering for Christ were able to live that
out. They had been imprisoned for preaching about Christ. An angel
set them free in the night and commanded them to return to the temple
to preach. The religious leaders who had arrested them, found the
prison locked and guarded, but empty. Then they heard that the former
prisoners were preaching in the temple. The disciples were arrested,
interrogated, threatened, beaten and released. Their response: “So
they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5:41). They
rejoiced because they were suffered for the cause of Christ!
Could
it be that you are not happy because you are not suffering for the
cause of Christ? If rejoicing in the midst of persecution is
commanded, maybe you are not rejoicing because you are not being
persecuted. And why would you not be persecuted because of your
relationship to Christ? Maybe no one knows that you have a
relationship with Him. Though persecution is not the only reason for
rejoicing, there is a connection in this passage. One way that you
could become joyful would be to talk with your co-worker about your
relationship with Jesus Christ. He might rejoice with you, as you
both discover that you are both followers of Christ. He might ask you
more questions, which will cause joy as you dig into the Word to
answer them. He might laugh in your face and ridicule you to the rest
of the office staff. Regardless of your co-worker's response, you can
rejoice “for great is your reward in heaven!”
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