Trinity Community Church

The Blessed Life - Session 9

Matthew Atchley

In this final session of our Beatitudes study, Matthew Atchley teaches from Matthew 5:10—“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus speaks this in the present tense, promising that the kingdom belongs now to those who endure persecution for His sake. This session draws together the whole Sermon on the Mount, showing how each Beatitude serves as a key to the kingdom of heaven—planted like mustard seeds that come to life through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew reminds us that Jesus wasn’t calling His followers to become better rule-keepers but to examine the state of their hearts. Our identity is not in our own righteousness but in the righteousness of Christ living in us. Persecution comes when the fragrance of Jesus is present in our lives. Without it, the world has no reason to push back. But with it, the believer shines with a different identity—one that cannot be hidden.

Through his own testimony of being struck while witnessing on Cumberland Avenue as a new believer, Matthew illustrates that persecution is not just hardship or trial—it is the cost of bearing Christ’s name. He shares recent experiences of opposition faced in prison ministry, where the spread of the gospel has stirred resistance from authorities. These real-life examples point us back to the words of Jesus: persecution is inevitable for those who follow Him.

The session also connects the nine Beatitudes of Matthew 5 with the nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, showing how the Spirit equips believers to live out the character Jesus describes. From Stephen’s bold witness in Acts to the promises in Revelation 2, we see that persecution has always been part of the church’s story. Yet in every instance, God’s peace and glory shine through the suffering of His people.

As Matthew emphasizes, the Beatitudes are not just lofty sayings but treasures that reveal who we are as children of God. They call us to embrace our identity, surrender to the Spirit’s work, and prepare to stand firm in a world where persecution is certain. This concluding session challenges us to move beyond religious routine and to be ready to display the fragrance of Christ—whether in daily life or in the face of opposition—knowing that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who endure for His name.

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Matthew Atchley:

First off, really thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach you guys and speak. It's a pleasure you don't often get to teach to the body of Christ. I mean, that's a privilege God gives to elders, to men of God, and I really appreciate it to elders, to men of God, and I really appreciate it. Tonight we're looking at the very last beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount, but there's some main things I want to cover before we start on that. Matthew 5.10 says Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. It's present tense, theirs is. It doesn't say maybe it says is, and that's important to really think about. There's so much in that. But the main thing on the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is talking about, he does several things. He is introducing a new covenant and he's introducing something here to the people that's really hard to grasp. Number one I got this out of the book that Mark Medley wrote called Trinity Trilogy, and Jesus calls God Father 17 times in the Sermon on the Mount. Calls him Father, and he's talking to Jews and he's saying Abba, father. And can you imagine how strange that might be to all those people to hear him call god abba. Father, you know, even today we all are focused on following rules and obeying the law, and I know that personally because I've broke the law in the past and I've paid the price. And Jesus is promising those who are persecuted will see the kingdom of God. He's given them a key to heaven and each blessing that he says in the Sermon on the Mount is a key to heaven that he's releasing as a seed, a mustard seed that's planted for when the holy spirit is released, that seed is going to birth and and be a key into the kingdom of heaven. And that's that's what I've been learning about the love of god through this sermon on the mount. It's amazing stuff. You've heard that. You've heard all your life, that you should become a better rule follower. But I ask you, what is the state of your heart? And that's what Jesus was asking. What is the state of your heart? And that is a major thing. He was asking then and he's still asking today. And still a lot of us don't really get that point. We still are stuck in the religious thought of being a Christian. We're stuck in obeying the rules, we're stuck in doing what's right, but our heart is far from God and I learned that the hard way, through my testimony but through persecution.

Matthew Atchley:

I remember when I first got saved. I got saved on Tony Evans's front porch when I was 17 years old and Trinity was on Dedrick. Back then Mark was the praise and worship leader and I started going to house church with my brother Tim. He had a house church and I remember the college group started going out and we would go to Cumberland Avenue on the weekends Friday and Saturday night and we would witness to people on Cumberland Avenue that were hopping all the bars drinking drunks, and I was always a person that was a brawler. I liked to fight, I like to get you know, do things like that.

Matthew Atchley:

But once I got saved and become a Christian, I was going with the college group out on Cumberland Avenue to witness and I witnessed to a guy that was. He was drunk and all of a sudden this guy just hit me in the chest hard as he could and normally my reaction would have been to start fighting, but it wasn't. I was speechless and I just stood there and everybody else just was like in awe and I was like, wow, he hit me for sharing jesus and and the revelation hit me. That's, that's why he hit me, just for being kind to him, and that's persecution. That's what persecution?

Matthew Atchley:

And there's different forms of persecution. You know now. The Bible says that we will experience trials and tribulations. Every Christian will experience that in your life of sanctification. But that's not persecution.

Matthew Atchley:

Persecution is when you are being treated ill for being righteous, because people see the presence of Jesus in your life. You won't be persecuted if you don't have the fragrance of Jesus on your life, and that's what the Beatitudes is saying. You have to have the fragrance of Jesus, showing the righteousness of Jesus, not your own righteousness, it's not our own, but it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself. And, like we've been hearing in all the other messages from Eben and Josh and all the other guys, and even Tyler on Sundays, it's about your identity. It's about who you are in Christ, and that's what Jesus was teaching. He was teaching you know. This is an identity. You can be an adopted child of God. You don't have to be a rule follower. You don't have to obey the law. You do have to obey the laws, but you do it with the desire of your heart, because Jesus has become in you. He's in you, he's living in you, he's living in you. You become a child of God. The presence of Jesus Christ is in you and that's why you would be persecuted.

Matthew Atchley:

And now here recently, we've experienced some in the prison ministry. It's not violent persecution, it's not. It's not, you know, hateful persecution. But there are some people in the administration that don't like the fact that Jesus is being shared in the prison. And what we've been sharing in the prison is the same thing we've been sharing here at Trinity your identity. It's up to you to show the fragrance of Christ in your life to all the other prisoners. We can't do it. We can come up here and share gospel with you and love on you, but you have to change the prison and that's what they've been doing. And there's been an outburst of the Holy Spirit at Morgan County Prison. And there's been an outburst of the Holy Spirit at Morgan County Prison. They witnessed it this past Sunday evening. And the administration some in the administration are working against us because of that. I showed up on a Wednesday morning, like I always do, being a volunteer chaplain, and I'm told I ain't allowed in. All of a sudden, just boom, I'm not allowed in and I'm still on hold waiting for them to let me back in. Pastor Tyler's been trying to go through orientation for what? Three months more, and now they're telling him he has to go through orientation again. These are the things that we are battling while sharing the gospel in the prison. The prison administration is changing in the state of Tennessee and it's trying to stop sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's trying to get it to where they have to do it themselves and there's no volunteers coming in. That's what they're trying to do to where they have to do it themselves and there's no volunteers coming in. That's what they're trying to do and that's persecution. That's what that is and we're all going to experience that.

Matthew Atchley:

Yeah, now there's other scriptures. If you look at Matthew 5, 10, it cross-references with Luke, chapter 6. Can somebody open up to Luke chapter 6? And we're going to look at verse 22. I think it's verse 22. Yeah, 22 and 23.

Matthew Atchley:

It's a beatitude as well, but it words it quite different. Blessed are you when people hate you and they excrete you and revile you and they spurn your name as evil on account that the Son of man rejoiced in that day. Yes, it words it a little differently there and if you notice in Luke. It doesn't have all nine of the Beatitudes in Luke. It only has four or five, and one of the main ones that its focus is on in Luke is the ninth one. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for they shall see the kingdom of God. They shall see the kingdom of God and I don't.

Matthew Atchley:

You know, a lot of us Christians today are lacking knowledge of what's going on in the world around us. I don't know, maybe a bunch of you are, probably are, familiar with Voice of the Martyrs, but I recommend that everybody please read that newsletter. I mean, there are people in our world that are being persecuted, imprisoned and violently being tortured for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We here in America aren't experiencing that, but we will. We're going to experience that and I wonder how many of us are truly ready for that to happen to us, like that day when I went out and got punched in the chest. But you know, the thing that I realized and got with that is a revelation the peace of god is upon those who are persecuted.

Matthew Atchley:

If we look in the book of acts at the account of stephen, a deacon, and we read that account, stephen was an awesome man of God. He was more than a deacon. He was one of the first seven deacons chosen and he was stoned to death for preaching the gospel to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He preached a harsh word. I mean it perished their hearts and and they? They gnashed their teeth and they growled at him and they stoned him. And the thing that amazes me, during this, this account, stephen looks up and sees heaven and sees Jesus. The peace of God comes upon him. He's being stoned to death and he doesn't even I don't think he even realized what was going on. Maybe he did, you know, but what I see the most of is the glory of God in the moment. The most of is the glory of God in the moment. How much God was glorified in his life.

Matthew Atchley:

Enough to where they have a whole chapter in the book of Acts that is accounted to Stephen's life and that can be any believer that is sold out to Jesus and that's what the Beatitudes is trying to teach here. That's what Jesus is doing. He's passing out keys to the kingdom of heaven and all nine of the Beatitudes, that's what he's doing. He's planting them, mustard seeds and their keys to the kingdom of heaven, and he's relying on the Holy Spirit to give that revelation and, believe me, throughout sanctification in your life of Jesus Christ. Searching through the Word of God is full of jewels. It's like searching through a treasure and just going through the Beatitudes is like going through that treasure hunt and it's so full of so many jewels and you have to search for them. You have to be hungry, you have to be thirsty and you have to really dig for it. But once you get one of them jewels, and once you get one of them revelations, it's so amazing and it so encourages you and and gives you the strength to go forward and walk even further into your relationship with God. But the main thing is is that you learn your identity in Jesus Christ, who you are and who your father is. That is the main thing.

Matthew Atchley:

There's another scripture that I want to look at. It's in Revelations. I believe it's. Let me find it. It's Revelations 6. Let me find it here. I'm all scrambling in my notes.

Matthew Atchley:

Well, let's look at 2nd Corinthians, 5, 21 first, and then we'll look at the revelations. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So when we trust in Jesus, we are declared righteous by faith. That's our identity. That's who we are. So the Beatitudes teach us everything we need to know about being a child of god. Just in those nine things we learned the truth of what it means to be a christian. Jesus released in one sermon everything we needed to have, but we got the whole Bible.

Matthew Atchley:

And the thing that amazed me while doing this study is there's nine Beatitudes and there's also nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians, chapter 5, and those nine fruits of the Spirit is what allows us to walk out our sanctification and follow through with the nine beatitudes. That's what gives us the power. So if you look at galatians, chapter 5 and tie that with matthew, chapter 5, you'll see that everything you need is given to you by the Holy Spirit to obey the Beatitudes. You don't have to work at it, you don't have to give yourself a hard time and stress out. You just have to surrender to Jesus and surrender to the Holy Spirit. That's all you got to do. You got to know that you are a child of God, you are adopted into the kingdom of God and that's your identity, and let the Holy Spirit do the work inside you that he needs to do. So you can follow out the Beatitudes and live it out in your life. It's that simple and we like to complicate it a lot of times.

Matthew Atchley:

Now what guarantees that we're going to be persecuted? It shows in Revelations, chapter 2. Yeah, chapter 2, verse 9. It talks about the church in Samaria and God promises there will be persecution on the church in tribulation, and I think we're starting to see that here in America a little bit. I think we're starting to see persecution come to the church in America. We're seeing things happen that we don't normally would see, and that is proof where we're at and we're going to experience harshness. And I wonder there's questions on the sheet tonight that will ask you where you're at in your relationship with God and what you think about persecution.

Matthew Atchley:

And it's a serious thought, because that's where the rubber meets the road. It's really where the truth of your Christianity comes out. It no longer is a religious game. No more. It's not something you just go to church on Sunday. No more. It becomes a reality. Man, what are you going to do when somebody wants to put you in prison for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ? What are you going to do when somebody wants to kill you for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, or take your home away or punish your family, are you going to be able to show the fragrance of Jesus Christ in that moment?

Matthew Atchley:

That's a serious thought and we have to really think about that. That's where the Beatitudes take us. It ends at the very thought. Are we willing to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ? Is that the truth of our salvation? Is that the truth of our relationship with god? If we take in the account the disciples, they were all martyred harshly.

Matthew Atchley:

Peter neil told me tonight, hung upside down. Stephen stoned to death. One of them was boiled in oil. Can you imagine that? Yep, that's right. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine in our day and time, or maybe in our children's day and time or our grandchildren's day and time, what's life going to be for them in the kingdom of God? So we got to be prayer warriors now and we got to know our identity and we got to understand the word of God now and live it and be it, just be it, just let it happen, and we will persevere. We will win the war. That's what it promises and that's what it says.

Matthew Atchley:

But if you're not ready, it ain't going to happen and it's going to catch you off guard. It's going to catch you. It could catch any one of us off guard and we have to be ready and I always really do think about that when I'm praying for other nations and stuff. I've been, I've not traveled as much as Mark and all them, but Neil, but I have traveled some in missions and I've seen some of the things that they go through not a lot, but, man, it's going to come here, it's coming. We have to be ready and we have to listen to our elders because what they're teaching us is the pearls of the kingdom of heaven, man. They're preparing us for what is to come. They're trying to get us ready and mature so we can be obedient to god through the Holy Spirit.

Matthew Atchley:

So please go over the questions, ponder them, think about them and really take them serious and really take the Beatitudes series. Don't let this see in your study in the Beatitudes. You could study the Beatitudes for a whole year and still not finish with it. I mean, there's so much there to grasp. The gospel is never ending. It is never ending and the word of god is never ending. There's so much there to grasp a hold of and and I just I appreciate y'all listening to me and I hope you got something from this. But good, good joy with the questions there. I hope they do something for you. Praise god.

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