By Francis Frangipane
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. —Matthew 5:12, NIV
The antidote to persecution is in Jesus’ command to “rejoice and be glad” (Matt. 5:12). If we read the rest of verse 12, we discover that we will receive the same great reward as those who were persecuted before us.
There is a sequence for those God uses to speak to nations, those God anoints to get to the place where they truly represent Him. There are those who operate with the gift of prophecy and those who hold the prophetic office.
The Beatitudes reveal to us the characteristics of a New Testament prophet. The New Testament prophet is not a Jeremiah type, anointed to pluck up, tear down, and destroy.
The Old Testament had prophets like Samuel, the leader of what was called the school of the prophets. When Jesus came, He taught the Sermon on the Mount; He set up the standards of the New Testament prophetic ministry and what the New Testament prophet will look like.
If you have come to the point where your heart is so fine-tuned by humility that you tremble at the whisper of God, then you have learned to recognize the Lord’s voice. Showing faithfulness in the little things required, you continue to progress through the Beatitudes, your eye is open, and you see God. Somebody who sees God, the Bible calls a seer. Somebody who hears God is, generally speaking, a prophet.
He says, “They persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I believe the Beatitudes are a sequence to building the character of a New Testament prophet. Maybe you don’t fully agree with this interpretation, but I want to say regardless of what a person’s ministry is— evangelist, pastor, apostle, teacher—everyone must go through that process to get there. We all do if we are to be disciples made in the image of Jesus Christ.
The height of what gives pleasure to God is the worshipping hearts of His servants who willingly lay down their lives. With hearts that ascend amid persecution, they come before God and love Him with a precious kind of devotion—it’s this heart that angels long to gaze into. It’s why God created man.
When you look at Jesus—our model, our pattern, the virtue bearer, the vine that supplies us life—you find that at the height of being persecuted, having been maligned and lied about, He went to the cross. If you read Psalm 22, it looks right into everything Jesus is saying on the cross. It starts, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (v. 1, NKJV). It goes on, “They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones.…They divide My garments among them” (vv. 16–18, NKJV). It’s a picture of Christ.
But then, right there in the middle, as He’s crying out, He says, “I will praise Thee.” He begins to praise, and you hear, “From the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me” (v. 21, NKJV). On the verge of death, Jesus reconnects in worship to the Father. First and foremost, the Son of God on the cross having been misjudged, having laid His life down as the peace offering for the world’s sins—that worship on the cross amid being reviled gave the Father the highest pleasure God could draw from His creation.
We also, in following Christ’s example, worship God in the midst of trials and sufferings; even if unjustly or innocently, with hearts bowed and surrendered we can bring pleasure to the heart of the Father.
Jesus tells us to take up our cross if we are to follow Him. What does the cross, this persecution represent? It represents lives that have determined that God alone is the reason we live. It represents lives that say, “I will not live for the glory of man.” It represents individuals who have been delivered from the illusion that “self” is worth keeping. As individuals, we see who God is and why we live.
When you’re the object of someone’s criticism, seize the opportunity, and offer to God worship—for yours is the kingdom of heaven. What you’re giving to God is why He made men: to offer praise in spite of your circumstances!
When the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, He said He wanted them to worship Him in the wilderness, and then they would go in and take the Promised Land. He promised them they would enter “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut. 27:3, NKJV).
He takes us into battle and conflict until we worship Him in the midst of it. Our promised land is the presence of God. We can’t find our land of milk and honey, the presence of God, until we worship Him amid the wilderness of conflict and strife.
The Lord is concerned about fulfilling our desires, but to do so, He must pry our fingers off our lives and turn our hearts toward Him. Indeed, the reason we are alive is not to fulfill our desires but to become His worshippers.
Personal fulfillment can become an idol; it can develop into such an obsession that we live for happiness more than God. Thus, part of our salvation includes having our desires prioritized by Christ. Later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus put it this way: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matt. 6:33–34). God will satisfy our desires and needs, but not before He is first in our hearts.
Genuine Worship Causes Us to Become Genuine Christians
We have heard that God desires to have a relationship with us, and this is true. But it is our nature that defines this relationship as one that is perfectly accommodating, casual, and mostly defined by our terms and needs. Yes, God desires that our union with Him be full and wonderful. Yet His descent into our lives, His commitment to redeem and restore us, has another purpose: the reality of His presence transforms us into worshippers.
Indeed, worship is the evidence of a transformed, Christlike life. Worship might be expressed with tears of joy or in silent awe; it might create an abiding gratitude toward God or inspire songs in the night. Regardless of the form of expression, the worship the Father seeks is meaningful. It turns our complete being toward God in love.
If, however, the idea of worship seems strange, if it feels mechanical or if the words expressed seem hollow, that means we need to go deeper into God’s Word to get to know Him. The closer we draw to God, the more we are transformed; the greater our transformation, the more completely we respond in worship. True worship deepens and matures as we walk with God.
Worship is a choice we make. I choose to worship to demonstrate my trust in God when my circumstances appear hostile; I choose to worship by burrowing into the heart of God when all around me is in turmoil. And as I’m lifted into His presence, I am also aware that the character of my life is being measured by my worship at His altar.
Lord, come into my life and fulfill Your promise of transformation. Create praise on my lips and help me worship You in spirit and truth.
Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, The Heart That Sees God, available at www.arrowbookstore.com.