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COMFORT FOR CHARLIE BROWN

There's a wonderful old, vintage cartoon strip from the Peanuts archives that is still oh-so-true these many decades later. Charlie Brown, the poor, persecuted misfit who is always the butt of jokes, the object of scorn, recipient of Lucy Van Pelt's sarcasm, finally has had enough. From a good safe distance he screams at his tormenters the old line: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me!!"
Two seconds later, in the last frame, a stick comes flying through the air and it clonks Charlie Brown right on the head. So he gets it both ways.
But that old expression, which turned out to be no defense for young Mr. Brown, isn't for us either. "Words can never harm me"? Friend, you and I both know that those five words are among the most UNtrue in the English language. Every hour of every day, words are unleashed which cut to the heart, which wound, which even kill.
The famous verse, of course, is Proverbs 15:1:

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

And the Bible's reference notes send us over to a little story in First Samuel 25, where a man named Nabal gave a sarcastic, in-your-face answer to some of David's military emissaries. An insult. Now, those were just words. No blood was spilled, no hand grenades exploded. But when David got the e-mail report, he went ballistic, as they say these days, and 400 men suited up for battle. All because of cutting words.
Well, friend, our topic this week is persecution — rejoicing in the midst of persecution — and an old preacher like Kenneth Richards can still relate to the sting of words. There was a cartoon in the latest issue of the Christian magazine for pastors, entitled Leadership. And please don't get the idea that cartoons are the only thing we ever read around here. But the punch line was this: "You know, pastor, that you're in trouble when the church's voice mail system includes an option that says, ‘To complain about Sunday's sermon, press three.'"
Notice something as we return to our theme text for this week here in Matthew five, where Jesus talks about rejoicing when we're persecuted. He doesn't simply address the dilemma of people in fiery furnaces, or Christians who are thrown to the roaring lions, or led out to the gallows to be hanged. No, Jesus Christ talks even more about the kind of persecution most of us encounter; He talks specifically about WORDS. Notice verse 11:

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me." And then Jesus adds the promise and an explanation: "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

So friend, if your persecution is one of bearing insults, Jesus gives you comfort. If people lie about you, He promises you that He's got a reward for you, to make up for it all. If Charlie Brown is saved in God's kingdom, he can know that God will not only bind up that bruise on his head, but also heal his heart for all the times that Lucy called him "you blockhead," for all of the insults he endured when his team lost in baseball.
However, notice three very important words tucked away there in verse 11.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you BECAUSE OF ME."

It's vital to see here that Jesus isn't really talking about baseball games or about celebrity guests who get insulted on the Howard Stern radio show. No, this is persecution — verbal cruelty — that a man or woman experiences because of their faith. Because they witness to a relationship with Jesus. The prophet Isaiah must have been one of those preachers who had a lot of parishioners hit "three" on his voice mail to complain about sermons, because he writes this in chapter 51, verse seven:

"Hear Me, you who know what is right, you people who have My law in your hearts." So this is written to a believer. And then this: "Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults."

So what can we say about these words? Let's say you work in a busy office, where there is the inevitable politics. People gossip; unkind words are spoken. Rumors go around and around. And you're trying — sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but trying — to act as a Christian. You try to use the tactics a Christian should, and avoid the others. Because of that, you endure some insults without being able to retaliate. You feel your face burning, your stomach tightening. So, what does the Bible promise?
Well, notice that it promises several things. First of all, you're not alone. When we're persecuted, Jesus is with us; that's a beautiful thread running through the entire Bible. Exodus 33:14:

"The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'"

So when those words cut into your heart, know that you're not alone. Secondly, know that many others have gone before you down this same path. Are you the first to be so persecuted? No. The Bible tells us the prophets were persecuted too. So have many, many others — what the Bible calls a "cloud of witnesses." You're not alone; in fact, you're standing in the midst of a great, courageous group of survivors: some seen, some unseen.
Thirdly, don't worry about an answer to those verbal jabs. The Word of God promises that, if it's needed, an answer will be given to you from a higher power. Did you know that? Matthew 10:19:

"But when they arrest you [for your faith], do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

Admittedly, this is talking about real, physical persecution and arrest. But wouldn't the same principle come right down to that lunchroom, that boardroom, where someone looks at you and levels an accusation? We all think later, after our tongues become untied and our minds work more clearly: "Oh, if I'd only thought to say such-and-such. Oh, if only that particular insult, that rapier-sharp retort, had been in my head! Now it's too late." Friend, never worry about a thing like that; the Bible says if God wants us to have an answer, He'll put it in our minds at the perfect moment. Most of the time, we should probably thank Him for NOT sending us anything real smart and sassy to say to our accusers. Even Jesus was silent, like a lamb going to the slaughter, until God's enemies challenged Him specifically about His connection to God. Then and only then He spoke heaven's answer.
Well, hopefully the promises of God seem tangible to us here on this Wednesday. But how true it is that even the holiest of saints, the most faithful of Christians, must struggle when their enemies unleash one verbal volley after another. Should we just endure? Silently take these sarcastic slaps in the face? Can we go toe-to-toe with the enemy, spitting their insults back at them?
Listen to the follow-up verse from Isaiah where he says not to fear the insults of men. What comes next? Notice this:

"For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations."

In other words, friend, why should WE yearn to do GOD'S job? If any enemy of the faith offends you — especially because of YOUR faith — just quietly remember what his future is and what your future is. God's salvation for you lasts through all generations, and the end result of those who rebel against God is a much more sober matter than anything you and I might be enduring here today. Isn't that true?
You know, in the end the best part of it all is the presence of God. I'm sure that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren't much concerned with how God might deal with the heathen king who had tossed them into the fire. They weren't busy thinking about clever answers — although the one they gave there in Daniel three is quite powerful and impressive. What was important to them? Just this: Jesus being there with them in the flames. The presence of that Fourth Man who looked like the Son of God.
In that same issue of Leadership magazine I just mentioned, a Pastor Ben Patterson tells about a church where things were really a mess. Politics and frustration and, I imagine, many disgruntled worshipers punching that "three" on the phone. "Your sermons stink and so do you" was the basic mantra going around in the parking lot. And the years ahead in that prison of verbal persecution loomed endlessly before him. Notice how he coped with the difficulty, the complaints and the back-biting — and this is in his own words:

"For all I knew, I was going to be serving that church, a job I didn't like, for a long time. That four-year period was about coming to the place where I could say to God, ‘To see Your face is so worthwhile that NOTHING in this life is bad enough to outweigh Your presence.'"

Isn't that a powerful testimony? Nothing in this world is as bad as the presence of Jesus is GOOD. Friend, who would punch in a "three" to complain after hearing news like that?