Psalms 1:1-3

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. 

God longs to lavish His blessings on us, He desires to give us good things but there are times when He has to withhold His blessing because of our bad attitudes and actions. God doesn’t bless bad behavior, when we are being brats and bruisers, when we are selfish and self-centered, when we are argumentative and arrogant, when we are prideful or pouting, God withholds His blessing from us. But when we live lives of love and operate in obedience God is pleased and pours out His blessing. Do you believe that God wants to bless? If you do then you need to not only study God’s blueprint for blessing but seek to live it out. God’s blueprint for blessed starts with a call to be:

• Separated from the world

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” Scripture starts with the call for us to separate ourselves from the sinful society in which we live. Now this is not a call to be a hermit, this is a call to be holy. We are to be in the world but not of the world. Many make the mistake of believing that if they hole up and hide away from the world that they will be walking out the Word. Moving to a monastery, becoming a monk, and cutting yourself of from culture is not the cure.  Seclusion doesn’t solve the problem of sin and it doesn’t necessarily draw us closer to the Savior. While we may avoid the wickedness of this world we can’t hide from our own heart. Also God’s plan is bigger than just not walking in wickedness it involves walking out our witness, and while we are walled off from the world it’s hard to walk out the Word of God. In truth this is not a call to cut ourselves off, but to be careful not to get carried away by the culture. While Jesus went away into the wilderness away from the world to fast and seek God at the start of His ministry, and although He continued throughout His life to practice seeking the Father through silence and solitude, the vast majority of His time was spent in constant contact with the culture. Jesus was surrounded by society yet did not sin, he touched and taught, he helped and healed, he served and set the example of how to live life. His disciples followed in His footsteps doing the same, and after they returned from a tour of ministry, teaching truth to the masses Jesus called them to come away Mark 6:31, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” The bible tells us that they had been so busy helping and serving others they had not even had time to eat. Because they had been so surrounded and saturated with people that Jesus told them to depart to a deserted place and get their rest. They planned to take a brake but scripture says “many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.” When they stepped out of the boat they were surrounded by people, so how did Christ handle the crowds, what did He do, did He tell them to leave and insist on being by Himself? No, he didn’t respond by retreating by being a recluse, instead it says He was, “moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” His disciples were also in constant contact with people, preaching, teaching, and like the Savior they they were surrounding by society as they served. Only when the Apostle John was placed in exile at the end of his life was he isolated from others. When Jesus was asked which were the greatest commandments He said, “love your neighbor as yourself.” So here is the question, how can you love your neighbors if you cut yourself off from the culture and hide from humanity? If you are never in the presence of other people how do you put Christ’s teaching into practice? When you consider Christ’s statement that loving your neighbor is one of the two “great commandments,” you realize that hiding away is not the answer. Monastic life may minimize the wickedness of the world and even make parts of life easier but it doesn’t mesh with the whole of God’s plan. We are not called to hide from humanity but to live holy lives that are sold out and separated to the Savior in the midst of the culture. This is not a call to cower and hide from the culture but a command to not conform to the culture. Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” As Christians we are called to confront the culture with compassionate truth not to conform to it and become tangled up. We are called to be transformists, not conformists. So let me ask you are you a thermostats or a thermometer, one reads the temperature the other changes it. It’s here as the Word warns us about our walk that we see the seriousness of where we sit and where we stand. We are called to live lives separated from sin, in 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul wrote “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of pure heart.” When Paul talks about evil desires, he is talking about the worldly wants that entice and entangle. These are the temptations that tie us up and prevent us from living in the light. So let me ask you what is your greatest worldly want? Is it fame, or fortune, fornication, are you that which is pure or putrid? You can’t love and live for the Lord while you are lusting after the things of this world.  I John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Now don’t get me wrong there is anything wrong with having things as long as things don’t have us. For instance there is nothing wrong with money as long as it doesn’t become our master. Cash is not the problem control is, it’s when cash starts to control our lives instead of Christ. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and Money.” Money can be a wonderful servant but it’s a lousy master and it will be one or the other in your life. This idea of our character being corrupted doesn’t just apply to possessions but also to people, I Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” Some people will build you up while others will tear and take you down. When we choose to walk in wickedness with people of corrupt character they will rub off and ruin you. It becomes a question of influence, are they influencing me to conform to Christ or the culture? If you truly want God’s blessings then you need to seek to separate yourself from the world. What steps do you need to take to separate yourself from the world?

Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Not only is persecution a given but the second paradox to persecution is that it is a:

• Gift

I think if we were honest most of us can not only see but also agree that persecution is a given, but for many of us to say that persecution is a gift would be a serious stretch. We see a gift as something that is given to us to be a benefit and a blessing. From our perspective persecution is more of a problem and a pain than a present. We fail to see how persecution can be productive, but we are blessed when people mess with us for our faith because what we receive is the kingdom of heaven. It’s a gift that goes beyond gold because it’s a gift we get to keep forever, one that no one can take away from us. Just before Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7:55 it says that he “looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand” Steven didn’t focus on the hurt of persecution he focused on the hope and his home in heaven. One of the reasons we fail to recognize persecution as a privilege and a blessing, and perceive it only as a problem, is because we expect an earthly reward instead of getting excited over an eternal one. Are you relying on an earthly reward or rejoicing over an eternal one? Sometimes in the midst of the misery of persecution all we can do is focus on the promise of what is to come. We can jump for joy not because of the hurt but because of the hope that is ahead. We may lose everything here on earth, but we will inherit everything in heaven. When we have a faulty perspective on persecution we tend to lose focus on the future and end up living for things that will fade and perish. When we go through persecution expecting and demanding that God blesses us in the present we end up prisoners. We hold our selves hostage instead of holding on to hope. Persecution is the precursor to blessing; it’s the trigger that causes God to pour out His blessings on life. His word reminds us that there is more to life than this world, that in the midst of persecution God promises us that it will all be worth it. Jim Eliot the missionary who was martyred for his faith said in a famous quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Are you focused on immediate blessing or a future reward, on temporary treasure that will fade or future treasure that will never tarnish? Not only is persecution a given and a gift but the last paradox to persecution is that it brings:

• Gladness

The third paradox is perplexing and is found in verse 14: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The phrase, “be glad” is not a suggestion but a command, meaning to jump up and down with joy. This is what Jesus said in Luke 6:23: “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven” Jesus did not call us to revel in persecution but in what persecution produces. Do you approach persecution with exceeding excitement, are you leaping forth with exuberant gladness? Jesus didn’t call us to reveal in the pain of persecution but in what it represents. Persecution confirms our relationship, it’s like a certificate of Christian authenticity. 1 Peter 4:16 says: “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear his name.” We can rejoice in the realization that people will see Jesus in us. While most of us push persecution away because we see it as a pain the bible calls it a privilege. Jesus thinks enough of you to let you share in His sufferings. Acts 5:41 says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Instead of being resentful over their rough treatment they rejoiced. How are you responding to persecution are you praising or throwing a pity party? Suffering for Jesus is a badge or better yet a brand of our discipleship. Not only does persecution confirm our relationship but it also causes reliance. Suffering tends to strip us of self-strength and cause us to lean on the Lord in ways that we may have never done. As we do we get to see God’s power, its what Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Not only do we get to see His power but we get to know Him personally. Persecution produces reliance and it also cultivates righteousness. Some of my greatest times of growth have come in through grief. 1 Peter 5:10: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” We tend to grow more in the groaning times than in the glad ones. Jesus reminds us of the persecution that the prophets faced before us, because they serve as a model. Their rejection was the rule, not the exception and to suffer for what is right is to join the ranks of great godly men and women. The Beatitudes are not easy to live, but perhaps that’s the problem, we have made the Christian life way too painless. Why do we expecting the pursuit of Jesus to be problem free? Today we are pursuing happiness instead of holiness, pursuing pleasure instead of the Prince of Peace. Are you stepping out in your service to the Savior or playing it safe? Are you living a life that is causing others to challenge your faith? When and where have you risked speaking out for Jesus? Are you living your life out loud for the Lord, or are you a covert Christian, keeping Christ under covered so as not to cause personal difficulty or cramp your lifestyle. Are you deliberately defending the cause of Christ? Have you identified yourself as a Christ follower? Perhaps you’re not persecuted because people don’t see the Savior in your life. The truth is that every believer who boldly proclaims Christ will face persecution. You will be made fun of for your faith; you will face scathing sarcasm from a society that hates your faith. But as they ridicule you remember persecution is a given, it’s a gift, you may be bullied by some but you will be blessed by the Son, and it can bring you gladness in the midst of the sadness because the rewards are worth the risk. If you are going through persecution embrace the promise and not the pain.