Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you...!

Believers whose righteousness is found in Christ, are you worried about people (even fellow Christians) falsely accusing you of blasphemy when you talk to them about God's grace and His gift of righteousness to us through our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you feel bad when people sneer at you when you tell them that our right standing with God has got nothing to do with what we do or don't do but is given to us as a gift according to Romans 5:17 and only this way can we live right?

Do religious people who believe that they need to be perfectly sinless before God blesses them try to shut you down when you tell them that it is our Lord Jesus' gift of no condemnation that makes us go and sin no more? Then be glad because you are in the same company with Paul of the New Testament. Paul was also falsely accused of preaching that it is okay to sin because of God's grace. Our Lord Jesus calls you blessed because you are in this situation in Matthew 5:11!

11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Just to digress a little: Your reward is in heaven but you get to write your cheques and "reign in life" here on earth😆 The streets of heaven are solid gold. There is no sickness there. Here on earth is where you can make use of the health and wealth and other rewards 😜

You'll notice that only a few pastors are being persecuted for Christ's sake as Paul was in his day - he was imprisoned, scourged, stoned and left for dead! But like the Pharisees of old, many leaders today enjoy and even expect special 'reverence' because of the positions that they occupy!

Paul preached a gospel that said in Acts 13-

38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."

To the Pharisees, this was unacceptable. They could not fathom how a person could be made 100% righteous with no sin debt by simply believing in Jesus. They wanted to keep on giving people rules and regulations which even they could not keep. They wanted to shut Paul up because if the people believed and accepted Jesus as their high priest, they would no longer be relevant! They wanted to hold on to their ceremonies, fasts, killing of animals for atonement, sprinklings, and washings which no one would need advice on once they believed in Jesus. And along came Paul talking about this Jesus that they thought they had finished dealing with! No wonder Paul said he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ!

Like the Pharisees, some pastors and leaders see God's grace (our Saviour Jesus) as competition - they think that people will stop coming to church and giving tithes and offerings if they start believing that God loves them just the way they are and does not expect them to do anything - including fast, sow seeds, etc- before He delivers them from trouble and shows them His Salvation.

They add to Romans 8:32 that says God gives us all things FREELY with Christ. They preach a mixture of law and Grace (hot and cold) and see the preaching of God's undeserved, unmerited favour as a license for people to sin!

God's grace is not a license to sin. It is the key to right living, according to Titus 2:11-!

11 "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

Leaders in the church, it is the grace of God that is the Teacher, not you or I. It is Christ that redeems us from every lawless deed and purifies us, not your rules and regulations and "dry fast" prescriptions as was the case with the priests of the old covenant. Preach God's grace - His undeserved, unmerited favour which no man can earn by good works- and the people will Live Right. Unveil the love of Christ for even the worst sinner and the people will be transformed to the image of His glory. They will be at peace, give more, pray more, praise the Lord more, yet not them but Christ in them. They will reign in life!

Being born-again is not about doing good works or suppressing the urge to sin by self-will and sheer determination in order to please God as preached in many churches today. No one can do this. If we could be saved by merit, Jesus would not have needed to die for us. Self-will and determination could not stop Peter from denying Jesus and the first time by a simple servant girl too! Nobody put a gun to his head! When you boast in your own strength to keep the law, the devil will ask to sift you like wheat as he did with Peter, and the arm of flesh will fail, always.

Being born-again is accepting God's gift of righteousness in Christ. He causes us to see that we have none of our own. Even our realisation of this truth is by His grace. Our best righteous acts are like filthy rags. In Christ, we are transformed from inside out by the Holy Spirit, not by doing works of the law ( the letter kills).

Believers, our flesh did not become born again when we believed. We are not born of the flesh. We are born of God who is a Spirit. When we became born again, the flesh still remained flesh. This is why you still like the same food, etc. But our spirits which were dead were brought to life in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit in us that gives life to our mortal bodies and transforms us to live right.

When the inside has been transformed, the outside will line up with what's inside.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.