Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you're here with us today. We're going to continue our series called "The Keys to a Blessed Life." Now, in these messages, Rick walks through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. Let's get started with part one of "Handling Opposition to Your Faith."

Rick Warren: Have I told you lately that I love you? If you have a Bible, open to Matthew chapter 5 and bring out your message notes. If I asked you to name the most persecuted group on the planet, you'd probably name the wrong group, because it's Christians. It may surprise you that that's the most persecuted group on the planet because it is the most ignored, most unnoticed, least reported, most overlooked news item on the planet, without a doubt.

The International Society for Human Rights—it's a secular organization, not a Christian organization—just recently let out a report and it says, "80 percent of all religious freedom violations in the world today are directed against Christians." Now, we're all aware that throughout history, for 2,000 years, Christianity, the Christian church, and Christians in particular have been persecuted.

We all know that for 300 years it was illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. They were feeding Christians to the lions, Nero was tarring them and lighting them on fire, and for the first 300 years of the church, it was against the law to be a Christian. We know about the different cleansings throughout history, the tortures, and the burning at the stake—all of those kind of things for 2,000 years.

But what we don't know, what you don't know, is that the worst persecution of Christians in all of history is happening in our lifetime. It's just not being reported. Since the Resurrection 2,000 years ago, about 70 million believers in Jesus Christ have died for their faith. About 70 million. But what is shocking, and what most people don't know, is half of that number—35 million—have died in the last 100 years. Right now.

This past year, about 100 million followers of Christ lived in countries where the state or the prevailing religion or the dictatorship left 100 million followers of Jesus facing the threat of discrimination, persecution, interrogation, arrest, imprisonment, torture, or even death. There used to be, for instance, about 1.3 million Christians in Iraq. That was about how many there were when the first Gulf War broke out. Today there's less than 100,000 in the nation of Iraq.

The most current estimates in North Korea is that there's probably about 70,000 Christians in prison in North Korea right now, suffering in prison. And about every 10 minutes, two Christians die for their faith around the world. Hour upon hour upon hour upon day upon week upon month, two every 10 minutes for the last decade. You've never heard that. No one is reporting it. It is the most under-reported story on the planet.

Now, what are we supposed to do about our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ—these millions and hundreds of thousands in refugee camps and displaced and having to move to other nations? Well, the first thing we're supposed to do is be informed, because nobody's going to tell you this. They're not going to tell you the national reports that are coming out of all these different organizations.

Second, we need to pray. The Bible says we are to pray for those who are persecuted. Third, we need to give. You can give online to help support families who have loved ones in prison or are being tortured or have died because of their faith. We can give, we can pray, we can learn, and we can be advocates for freedom.

Let me show you a verse in the Bible. The Bible says this: "Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering as if you were suffering with them." That's what God tells us to do. Now, anybody who thinks that following Jesus Christ, being a follower of Christ, is easy is sadly mistaken.

Being a Christian, being a follower of Christ, is not for wimps. It's not for weaklings. It's not for the faint of heart. It's not for cowards. You must be willing to face rejection, criticism, disapproval, peer pressure, harassment, and opposition if you truly live for Christ. The Bible says this in 2 Timothy 3:12: "Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and wants to live right will have trouble from others."

Circle the word "will." This is not an "if." This is not a "might." This is a guarantee. The Bible says it is guaranteed that if you stand for what's right, there will be people who oppose you. If you stand for what's true, there will be people who oppose you. If you stand for what's good, evil will simply oppose you.

Today, we come to the last of the eight Beatitudes. We've been looking at these eight blessings of Jesus where Jesus says, "If you want to be blessed by God, here's what you need to do in your life." We've looked at humility, generosity, integrity, and how to reconcile a relationship, being a peacemaker. In the last of the eight Beatitudes, Jesus deals with this issue of opposition and harassment for your faith, and we're going to look at what to do with it today.

We're going to look at how to handle opposition to your faith, and we're going to look at two things: what do you need to remember when you're feeling pressured, and what do you need to do when you're feeling pressured, when you're feeling harassed or put down or ridiculed or maligned or criticized for your faith? Let me just be real honest. In America, you're not being persecuted. You're not.

But you are being pressured, and there is subtle pressure to conform and to be like everybody else. In America, you're not going to face violent oppression—at least not in the foreseeable future. But you are going to face not violent oppression, but silent repression. This is the subtle thing for you to just shut up and keep your mouth shut and not say what's true and not stand up for Christ and not be a public witness, and to just blend in and fit in and conform.

You feel it all the time. I could give you a thousand ways that you do this. When a boss pressures you to do something that you know is dishonest or unethical and you don't want to do it, there's the pressure to conform. When people are standing around the water cooler and they're all telling dirty jokes and you think, "I really shouldn't be participating in this," and the pressure is to stay there and to smile and smirk and laugh and not walk away.

You'll be invited to some events you just can't go to as a Christian. Single guys, there are some bachelor parties you can't go to. In fact, nobody should go to them. You know it, and yet if you say "I'm not going," they ask why. If you say "Because I'm a Christian," you will be put down. You will be harassed. They'll say, "Oh, you're out of date," or "You're no fun," or "You're a fuddy-duddy," or "You have no freedom." There's enormous pressure on you to do that.

You will feel pressure to be silent when people are praising moral choices that the Bible says is wrong. They go, "What? You don't think that's okay? You don't think that's okay? You don't think that's okay? And you don't think that over there's okay? What's wrong with you? You're on the wrong side of history." Let me just tell you something: history is often wrong. Remember Hitler?

The New York Times and other magazines actually praised him in the 30s. History is often wrong. It's not important to be on the right side of history; it's important to be on the right side. It's important not to be popular; it's important to stand with the truth. So, you'll be pressured to be quiet. You'll be pressured when you're standing around and somebody says, "You know, all Christians, they just..." and they make a derogatory remark.

"They're all bigots. They're all this or this or that." And you will have the pressure to stay quiet. That is harassment for your faith. What should you do? Well, there are some things you need to do and there are some things you need to remember. First, let's look at three things you need to remember. Write these down. When you feel pressured for your faith because you love Jesus and other people don't, the first thing you need to remember is this: opposition can make me more like Jesus.

That's a good thing. Opposition can actually make me more like Jesus because Jesus experienced opposition. He experienced it in great quantities, obviously. The Bible says in John 15, "When the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you out of this world, that's why this world will hate you. No servant is ever greater than his master. So since they persecuted me, they will persecute you."

Follow me on this. If you're going to grow up and be like Jesus Christ—God wants you to become like him in the way you think and act and feel—then you're going to have to go through everything Jesus went through. Were there times when Jesus was lonely? Yes. Were there times when Jesus was tempted to be discouraged? Yes. Were there times he was fatigued and worn out? Yes. Were there times when Jesus was tempted? Yes. Were there times he was maligned, criticized, and lied about? Yes.

What makes you think God would spare you when he didn't spare his own son of those things? You're going to go through the exact same thing. As I said, following Jesus is not for weaklings or wimps. It's not for fuddy-duddies and people who don't have any backbone, don't have any spine. Jesus said, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you." Remember, Jesus was hated by many people. He was loved by sinners, but he was hated by people who didn't like goodness.

Evil always hates goodness. The Bible says this in John 3:19: "The light from heaven came into the world"—that's Jesus, he said, "I am the light of the world"—"but people love their darkness more than light because it hides their evil actions." If I've been sitting in the dark for 10 hours and you come in and you turn on a big spotlight on me, that's very uncomfortable. When you've been living in the dark all your life and somebody comes and turns on the light, guess what? It doesn't feel good at first.

On second thought, you see what a mess the room is. Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world," and he said, "You're the light of the world." It's still true today. He said people still love darkness more than light. You may have never thought about this, but it may shock you to realize that if Jesus came and walked on the earth today, we'd crucify him today. Our culture would crucify Jesus today. We're no different than any other culture. Why? Because darkness can't stand light and evil can't stand goodness.

What that means is this: even if you were perfect, there are people who aren't going to like you. Some of you have this myth in your mind: "If I'm just more winsome, if I'm just more likeable, if I'm just more perfect, then everybody will love me." Jesus was perfect and people hated him. So you're never going to get to the point where everybody loves you and likes you. That's just not going to happen.

The other thing we learn from this verse is that opposition means that you're doing something right. You're obviously being like Jesus in that moment. He said, "If they didn't like me, then they're not going to like you." The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:14, "If you're abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. Why? It's the Spirit of God in you and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others."

So when you're criticized, when you're judged, when you're ridiculed, when you're slighted, consider it a confirmation and a compliment. If nobody has ever criticized you for your faith, what does that say about your faith? You don't have any. If being like Christ will bring criticism, if you're never criticized, I should ask myself, then how much like Christ am I? What's wrong with me? Why is nobody noticing my faith?

I don't know if you've noticed this, but the more positive you are, the more negative people dislike you. If you get up in the morning and you're really positive and somebody wakes up and they're grumpy, they don't want you to be positive. They want you to be negative too, and that happens. So, the first thing you need to realize is that Jesus was criticized, Jesus was maligned, he was attacked. So the more I'm like Jesus, it's a confirmation and a compliment.

Second thing you need to remember: opposition will deepen my faith. It's how your faith grows. It's like the way you grow a muscle. A muscle is grown not by sitting in a chair and eating popcorn. A muscle is grown by stretching it, by straining it, by testing it. If you've ever gone to a gym and worked out—and obviously many of you haven't—then you know that the way you grow a muscle is by straining it, stretching it, pressuring it, putting tension against it, and having weight pull in the opposite direction.

You're never going to grow any muscle if no weight's ever pulling in the opposite direction. So opposition strengthens your faith; it deepens your faith. You have no opposition in your life, then you have no growing faith. It is without a doubt that the strongest believers in the world right now are those who are having their faith tested the most. The strongest believers aren't in America.

The strongest believers are where people are holding a gun and saying, "Renounce Christ and convert to whatever we are or die," which is happening right now in Syria every single day. That's where the strongest believers are. It comes from the opposition. 1 Peter 1:7 says this: "These troubles that you're going through will prove that your faith is genuine. Just as gold is purified by fire and heat, so your faith, which is far more precious than gold, must also be purified by fire."

By this fire, and when the heat's on, and when you're holding your feet to the fire, so it may endure. What happens when opposition deepens my faith? He says then, here's the result: "You'll receive praise, you'll receive glory, and you'll receive honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." Your rewards are coming one day if you stand the heat, if you stand the fire, if you let opposition deepen your faith. It makes me more like Jesus and it deepens my faith.

And the third thing it does: opposition will give me eternal rewards. No opposition, you miss out on those rewards in eternity. Now, we come to the last of the eight Beatitudes, which we've been studying now for a long time. In the last one, Jesus deals with how to deal with opposition. And he says this: "God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for me."

Now, I want you to underline or circle "because they live for God." It doesn't just say God blesses those who are persecuted for any reason. It says God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God. The Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs. That's quite a guarantee. "You will be blessed when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Notice three different things there.

"Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." He says, "I'm going to bless anybody who's persecuted because they live for God." Notice you don't get rewarded for being rude. You don't get rewarded for being obnoxious. There are people out in the world who live very self-righteous lives and they're looking down on everybody and putting everybody else down.

And when you put other people down, guess what? They're going to put you down. And if you live a self-righteous, nuisance, rude life, when you get persecuted, you're not a martyr, you're just a jerk. He's not saying you get rewarded for being a jerk. There are people out there who are pushy, they're nuisances, they're rude, they're self-righteous, they think they're better than everybody else. No, you don't get rewarded for that. You get rewarded for being like Jesus. The Bible tells us that when you share your faith, you're to do it with gentleness and you're to do it with respect.

Guest (Male): What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Rick Warren: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said, "You've got to love God with all your heart"—that's worship—"and love your neighbor as yourself"—that's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment. And then Jesus said, "Go make disciples"—that's evangelism—"baptize them into the family of God"—that's fellowship, a sign of fellowship—and then he said, "teach them obey everything I've taught you." That's discipleship. And we call that the Great Commission.

We believe at Daily Hope that a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth and the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single one.

You know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen through a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family. And I need your help. We could not do this without your support. We're 100 percent listener-funded.

Would you continue to pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us? And write to me—let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me. So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry. And God will bless it and God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven and we'll thank God for all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.

Guest (Male): Hey friends, I just wanted to remind you that our June matching grant is coming to an end. So if you've been thinking about supporting the mission of Daily Hope to bring biblical hope and encouragement to people all around the world, now is a great time because your gift will be doubled up to $50,000.

Go to PastorRick.com or text the word "HOPE" to 70309. Again, that's PastorRick.com or just text the word "HOPE" to 70309. We hope you'll join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.