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Quest for Faith: Lovers of the Cross

Persecution of Christians is as old as the Church itself. First there was an attempt to intimidate the Apostles into silence (Acts 4:18). They went back to prayer, and received a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit for boldness, and kept on preaching. The persecution advanced to imprisonment (Acts 5:18), but the angel of the Lord delivered them. Next they resorted to flogging (Acts 5:40), although they really wanted to kill them (5:33). The first martyr was Stephen who was stoned to death (Acts 7:57ff), and this was just the beginning. James was killed by Herod (Acts 12:2) who then tried to also get rid of Peter, but the Lord intervened by means of a miraculous escape from prison.

Listen to Paul's own account of persecution against him: "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." (II Corinthians 11:24-27)

Paul, in his training of Timothy reminds him, "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." II Timothy 3:12 Nina Shea of Freedom House in her book In The Lion's Den, wrote:

"Millions of American Christians pray in their churches each week, oblivious to the fact that Christian in many parts of the world suffer brutal torture, arrest, imprisonment and even death -- for no other reason than that they are Christians. The shocking, untold story of our time is that more Christians have died this century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ. They have been persecuted and martyred before an unknowing, indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community."

The Bible says in many different passages, that true disciples of Jesus Christ will be persecuted. It is inevitable, a natural consequence of exhibiting true Christian character. Any honest assessment of the Christian church in America reveals that although the country itself is far from being Christian and is ungodly, nevertheless there is very little persecution of American Christians today.

“This does not refer to the righteousness of God, but to suffering in a just cause, suffering for their own just judgments and actions. For it is by these that they who renounce possessions, fortune, rights, righteousness, honor and force for the sake of following Christ, will be distinguished from the world. The world will be offended at them, and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from the world for their message and works.

What are you supposed to do with a message like this? Maybe one could ignore it and take up the banner of feel good Christianity. A visit to the website of America’s fastest growing church and largest church reveals these book titles: Your Best Life Now, Living the Joy filled Life, Choosing Life, One day at a time, Living a life of Excellence, See Yourself Successful, Experiencing God’s Favor, Living Stress Free, Getting Prepared for Promotion. It’s no wonder that 25,000 people pack into a former NBA arena to hear those words.

Let me remind you who we are as a church for just a moment. Our mission is not to see how large we can become. Our mission is to make disciples and to teach them the way of the cross and the ways of Christ. Don’t ever forget it. We get so mesmerized by crowds and big things in this society and I am begging you to not get sucked into that mentality. Life on this earth was never promised to be anything but picking up your cross and following Christ into the world of wounded, hurting and needy people. You can try to dress it up and make it fancy and put it flowery language and you can even throw in a little Southern Texas accent but it won’t take away from the true teaching of the Bible.

This health and wealth stuff that so much of America is swallowing is nonsense and some of you would be much better off if you would turn off your TV’s and open the word of God and get on your knees and let Him lead you in His ways. Follow Christ for just one day and see where you wind up.

“God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you[c] and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.”
Matthew 5:10-12

This final beatitude does not say, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because they are objectionable, or because they rave like wild-eyed fanatics, or because they pursue some political cause.” This blessing is restricted to those who suffer persecution because of righteousness. The believers described here are determined to live as Jesus lived.

One might ask if there is any place on earth where a community exists that lives out the Beatitudes. Clearly there is one place and only one and that is where the poorest, meekest and most sorely tried of all men is to be found – on the cross at Golgotha. The fellowship of the Beatitudes is the fellowship of the crucified. With Him it has lost all and with Him it has found all!” (Bonhoeffer pg. 113)

This is a really tough subject. There will be persecution because the Bible says it in many different places. There will also be people that are attracted to the message of Jesus Christ by the relationships we have with them. Jesus is certainly not teaching that everywhere you go all day long you will be persecuted. He is though, sounding a warning that all who follow Him wholeheartedly will stand out in the crowd.

If you follow Christ with a surrendered heart you will be challenged. Clovis Chappell writes, “We love and admire the person who dares to be unique, yet we often resent them too. We approve of those who share our prejudices, who conform to our customs, who look at things through our eyes. Society constantly seeks to rob us of our individuality.”

I want to explore the following thoughts:

1. What does persecution look like?

Persecution can be defined very broadly. Of course we often think about it in terms of death or torture but it can also be as simple as a slight or gossip behind the back of an authentic follower of Christ.

  • Since the death of Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, 43 million Christians have become martyrs
  • Over 50% of these were in the last century alone
  • More than 200 million Christians face persecution each day, 60% of whom are children
  • Every day over 300 people are killed for their faith in Jesus Christ.

World Evangelical Encyclopedia

Let me tell you what it doesn’t look like for a moment. Joseph Bayly wrote a fictitious story in his book, The Gospel Blimp. This satirical piece unfortunately represents all too well many of the attitudes in much of what is so-called Christian activity. The believers in the story conceive the idea of witnessing by means of a blimp which is to fly over the town trailing gospel signs and dropping tracts and leaflets called, “bomb.” It is really a silly idea; no one is ever converted by it. But for a while at least the town is tolerant. Tolerance changes to hostility, however, when the promoters of the project add sound equipment to the blimp and begin bombarding their neighbors with gospel services broadcast from the air. The town newspaper even prints this editorial:

“For some weeks now our metropolis has been treated to the spectacle of a blimp with an advertising sign attached at the rear. This sign does not plug cigarettes or a bottled beverage, but the religious beliefs of a particular group in our midst. The people of our city our notably broad minded, and they have good naturedly submitted to this attempt to proselyte. But last night a new refinement was introduced. We refer, of course to the air-borne sound truck, that invader of our privacy, that raucous destroyer of communal peace. . .”

That night the sound equipment of the blimp is sabotaged and the Christians call it persecution.

Suffering for doing dumb or ignorant things doesn’t get to count as persecution. (recent attempt to open a homeless shelter)

The word rendered, “persecuted” in Matthew 5:10 bears the root idea of “pursue” or “chase.” A good translation would be harassed. One translation says, “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely.” The church has a bloody history and you will know about that by the time you leave today but sometimes persecution happens right where you and I live.

Other examples would include a conscientious worker who has given twenty years of faithful service but has been repeatedly passed over because the brass are uncomfortable with his uncompromising ethics; of the friendly student who is systematically excluded from conversation because he does not rubber-stamp all that is said; or the house wife who is considered dull by her neighbors because she doesn’t delight in their gossip. Such indifference and condescension can sometimes be harder to take than physical violence.

2. Why was Christ persecuted?

Christ was persecuted for one simple reason. He brought about change. How many times does this cause persecution in our society? Just try to change something, even at work and you will often hear wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth. It reminds me of how many Nazarenes it takes to change a light bulb. About 30. One to change the bulb, and 29 to stand around the ladder and talk about how much their going to miss the old bulb!

Sometimes we will be called to change the way we do things. We are called to a new vision or to reach people in an unorthodox way and when that happens you better follow Christ no matter what others say or do.

3. Who persecuted Him?

It was the church of that day. They couldn’t stand up under the scrutiny of His teaching. There is a growing sense from people who think deeply about these things that if Jesus came back today and tried to engage Christianity in many place He would be unrecognized and probably run out of town.

There are a whole lot of churches in America, I am convinced that would rather the whole world go to hell than change their mindset of how we should live as Christ follower, or what church should look like in today’s culture. Don’t even bring it up or they will threaten to leave the church.

4. Why is persecution necessary?

Jesus taught his disciples that they would face it.

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.” John 15:18-20

Paul writing to a young man beginning his days of ministry challenged him with these words:

“But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. 11 You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it. 12 Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:10-12

“You know quite well that we were destined for them. 4In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 1 Thessalonians 3:3-4

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy with silken twine.

                    --William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

5. Is it inevitable?

For the most part, a lot of Christians are cut off from the world except maybe at work and school. Some even have figured out how to go to a church that is 100 percent Christians, attend Bible studies that are 100 percent Christian, attend Christian schools, exercise with believers, garden with churchgoers, and golf with believers and because of this they are often sealed from persecution. They have figured out a way to not make waves with non-Christians.

R. Kent Hughes writes in his book, The Sermon on the Mount, “But by far the greatest reason there is so little persecution is that the church as become like the world. If you want to get along, the formula is simple. Approve of the worlds morals and ethics – at least outwardly. Live like the world lives. Laugh at it humor. Immerse yourself in its entertainment. Smile benignly when God is mocked. Act as if all religions converge on the same road. Don’t mention hell. Draw no moral judgments. Take no stand on the moral political issues. Above all, do not share your faith. The fact is the church must be persecuted or it is no church at all. People need to be told that if they follow Christ there will be a price to pay.”

One hundred years after Jesus preached this sermon a man approached the great church father Tertullian with a problem. His business interests and Christianity conflicted. He ended by asking, “What can I do? I must live! Tertullian replied, “Must you?” When it came to a choice between loyalty to Christ and living, Tertullian held that the real Christian chooses Christ.

Sadly, Christians are very often persecuted not for their Christianity, but for the lack of it. Sometimes they are rejected simply because they have unpleasing personalities. They are rude, insensitive, thoughtless – or unpleasingly obnoxious. Some rejected because they are proud and judgmental. Others are disliked because they are lazy and irresponsible. Incompetence mixed with piety is sure to bring rejection.

6. How do we embrace the joy of it?

Persecution is glorious because it is the persecuted who know elite joy. In Matthew 5:12, Christ the ultimate persecuted man, said, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

When John D. Rockefeller died, the public became understandably curious about the size of the famous man’s fortune. One reporter determined to find out, secured and appointment with one of Rockefeller’s highest aides. He asked the aide how much Rockefeller left behind. The man answered simply, “He left is all.”

Not so for those who have been persecuted for the sake or righteousness. The reward is great! God will not permit what had been done for His glory to go unrewarded.

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” 2 Cor. 4:17

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7,8

Christ’s words must be read in their entirety. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness.” In context, this is the righteousness (righteous living) taught in the preceding Beatitudes. The world cannot tolerate such a life. Let’s put them in context and examine them through the lens of this last Beatitude:

First, poverty of Spirit runs counter to the pride of the unbelieving heart. Those who the world admires are the self-sufficient who need nothing else, not the poor in spirit.

Second, the mourning, repentant heart hat sorrows over its own sin and the sins of society is not appreciated by the world.

Third, the gentle meek person, the own who has the strength not to take up a personal offence is regarded as weak by those who do not know Christ. Conventional wisdom has it that “meekness is weakness.”

Fourth, hungering and thirsting for the spiritual – for Christ – is foreign and repulsive to a world that lusts after only what it can touch and taste.

Fifth, the truly merciful person who not only feels compassion and forgiveness but who gives it is out of step with the grudge-bearing callousness of our age. This person is an awkward, embarrassing rebuke to the uncaring.

Sixth, the pure, single-minded heart focused on God provides a convicting contrast to impure, self-focused culture.

Seventh, the peacemaker is discomforting because he will not settle for a cheap or counterfeit peace has an embarrassing inclination to wage peace.

The foundational reason that men and women will be persecuted is that they are like Christ. This is Jesus’ point when He completes verse 11 with “because of me” instead of “because of righteousness,” used in verse 10.

Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy writes this about the teaching of the Beatitudes:

“The Beatitudes, in particular, are not teachings on how to be blessed. They are not instructions to do anything. They do not indicate conditions that are especially pleasing to God or good for human beings.

No one is actually being told that they are better off being poor, for mourning, for being persecuted, and so on, or that the conditions listed are recommended ways to well-being before God or man. Nor are the Beatitudes indications of who will be on top “after the revolution.” They are explanations and illustration, drawn form the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus. They single out cases that provide proof that, in Him, the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond all human hope.” (pg. 106)

During China’s Boxer Rebellion of 1900, insurgents captured a mission station, blocked all the gates but one, and in front of that gate placed a cross flat on the ground. Then the word was passed to the one hundred people inside that any who trampled the cross underfoot would be permitted their freedom and life. Any refusing to do so would be shot. Terribly frightened, the first seven students stepped on the cross and were permitted to go free. The eighth student, a young girl, refused to do so. Kneeling beside the cross in prayer for strength, she arose and moved carefully around it, and went out to face the firing squad. Emboldened by her example every one of the remaining ninety-two students follower her to the firing squad.

Today persecution continues. It has been calculated that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th century that all the previous centuries combined. The reason is in part, according to the EFC, because there are more Christians in non-Western countries than before. In 1960, 70% of all evangelicals lived in North America. Today, 70% live in non-Western nations. And just as the early church was new and threatening to society so are these growing churches.

Web sites to keep up with current persecution:

www.persecution.com
www.persecution.org

He Huaizhu was such a staunch Communist that even the love letters she exchanged with her husband were filled with references to the party and Chairman Mao.

But at the end of her life, as China became increasingly capitalistic, she felt herself losing faith in her ideology. She questioned the materialism and the obsession with money that she saw around her in the new China.

As she lay dying of cancer, she met a Christian woman in hospital who volunteered to take care of her family. The woman, a barely literate laborer, visited her home, gave He Huaizhu massages and made meals for the family.

A month before her death, He Huaizhu abandoned her Communist faith and became a Christian believer, like an estimated one million Chinese people every year. Her conversion is part of an extraordinary surge of religious belief that Beijing is struggling to keep under tight rein.

Her 34-year-old son, Hu Wei, told his mother’s story to explain why he is a regular worshipper at a Protestant church in Beijing. He converted to Christianity the same day as his mother in 2001. “When she was dying, her only wish was that I should become a Christian,” he said. “She was not a follower of communism any more because it lacked love.”

His religious beliefs, he says, have helped him survive the hardships of daily life in China, including a recent bout of unemployment. “I’m experiencing a hard period and sometimes I feel so helpless. But I always stay happy because God is with me.”

According to official statistics, there are about 15 million Protestants and five million Roman Catholics in China. But the true number is much greater—as many as 80 million by some estimates, including millions of Christians who worship in secret underground “house churches,” despite strict controls on and persecution of the unofficial churches. By comparison, less than four million Christians existed in all of China in 1949 when the Communists came to power.

Some analysts predict that, at the current rate of growth, Christians could represent as much as one-third of China’s population within the next three decades. “China is in the process of becoming Christianized,” concludes a new book, Jesus in Beijing, by David Aikman, Time magazine’s former Beijing bureau chief. Former president Jiang Zemin once privately told friends that he would like Christianity to become China’s official religion, according to sources in the book. 1

John Maxwell states, “It’s amazing what can happen to and through an ordinary man when God pours a little hardship and the power of the Holy Spirit into the mix…One ordinary man, a little persecution, and a touch from the Spirit of God led to massive conversions in the city of Samaria. As Jesus had predicted, the gospel message made its way from Jerusalem into the outlying world (Acts 1:8). Philip illustrates what one leader, with the empowerment of the Spirit of God and with authority of Jesus Christ, can do to change the world” (Maxwell Leadership Bible page 1331).

Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch” New Testament translation and founder of the interracial Koinonia farm in Americus, Georgia, was getting a red-carpet tour of another minister’s church. With pride the minister pointed to the rich, imported pews and luxurious decoration. As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple.

“That cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars,” the minister said with a satisfied smile.

“You got cheated,” said Jordan. “Times were when Christians could get them for free.”



2007/03/11