Christian Persecution

Christian Persecution and the Meaning of Suffering for Faith

Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter 4, so we're going to be looking at the subject of Christian persecution and the verse that immediately comes to my mind is 2 Timothy 3, 12, which says, yea, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

And someone might think, well, I've never really suffered persecution. Does that mean I'm not living godly in this world? Well, maybe, but number one, we need to define what persecution is. And then number two, you have to remember the context of that letter.

What is it? 2 Timothy is a pastoral epistle. So this is Paul writing to a pastor telling him he will suffer persecution if he lives godly. So at the very least, any pastor who isn't suffering persecution, yea, they're not being faithful.

After all, Jesus said in Luke 6, 26, woe unto you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. You realize what that means? If a preacher is loved by the world, if the whole community, including the unbelievers, think he's great, there's just no way he's being faithful to the word of God.

Why? Because a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Jesus and they persecuted his disciples, they will persecute people who are living faithfully and preaching and speaking about their faith today.

So you say persecution, yea, but are pastors really suffering persecution in the United States in 2023? Well, let's look at a definition. What's the definition of persecution? Basically, any ill treatment directed towards you because of your faith.

I mean, that's a simple definition. So you say, well, maybe I have been persecuted then. You know, some people have lost a job. They've been passed over for a promotion. You've lost friends. You've been made fun of.

You've been called names. So in that sense, if any of that's happened to you, which I suspect for most of you, it has, if not all, yeah, you have suffered persecution, but that's very minor persecution, right?

When we hear the word, what do we think of when you hear persecution? What do you think of? Yeah, getting killed typically. Beatings, imprisonment, dying for your faith. That's typically what people think of when they hear the word, but you have to understand that type of thing is very rare.

Even throughout church history in general, it is very rare and it did happen to the prophets. It did happen to the apostles. Jesus obviously was crucified, but to the average Christian trying to live their life, the odds that you're ever going to be imprisoned or die for your faith.

I mean, it's almost certainly not going to happen, but the more godly you seek to live and the more, and this is really the key, the more you speak about your beliefs, you will face some ill treatment.

You will suffer some persecution. Okay, let's read this passage. First, Peter chapter four, 12 through 16. Peter says, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, which he's saying, don't be surprised, right?

But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a busy body and other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

So what's Peter saying? He's showing believers. Hey, don't be alarmed. Don't be surprised when you suffer for doing the right thing. If you suffer for Christ's name sake, don't be shocked by it. Now, some people do suffer adversity or it's not, it's not really persecution if this is the case, but some people do suffer adversity for doing the wrong thing, right?

Uh, there are people who are killed for what they do. There are people who are in prison, but if, if they brought it on themselves, it's not persecution. But if you just try to go to church and read the Bible and try to live right, uh, you shouldn't be surprised if some people don't like you simply for that.

Now, is that ever happened to anyone? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it really, it, it happens to, it should happen probably happens to just about every believer, at least to some degree. But this is what Jesus said in John 15, verse 18.

He said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Now in the United States, I think we have to say this historically, we've had it pretty easy. This is a very unique situation in history where Christianity has been like a safe Haven, uh, in this country, but still, uh, the, is the majority of the country converted?

No. So if you really try to live Godly and speak, you're still going to suffer something, but, uh, we've had a pretty good in this country, but overall, remember they called Jesus. What did they call Jesus?

The Jews, the Pharisees, they called him, they called him Beelzebub. I don't know if we've gotten to that yet in Matthew's gospel. I don't think we have, but Beelzebub is a name for Satan. So if they call Jesus Satan, uh, it should be no surprise if they call us, what do they call us today?

What are the typical, you know, slanderous attacks they call us bigots, homophobes, uh, haters, Jesus freaks or whatever. So now here's the thing. There are some people in churches who are truly bigoted or racist or something like that does exist.

But of course, that's not really what they're doing. Anything that's disagreeing with the mainstream culture, just disagreeing with them is enough to be called a hater. So, uh, we, we, we can't give them ammunition, but this is the type of thing that's happening now.

Uh, and maybe you've never been called that, but you, uh, you will be called that if you're a preacher, uh, if you're a Christian leader, or if you're vocal about your faith, you will hear that stuff from time to time.

Uh, so if a path, I would say this, if a pastor going back to that verse in second, Timothy, if a pastor never gets called any of those terms in the year, 2023, again, there's just no way he's being faithful to the word unless he's living in a bubble.

I just don't see how that's possible. Um, cause he's, he must not be preaching the whole council of God. Um, now I could quote, there's a big, long list. I looked up all the verses on persecution, and I mean, we could be here all night quoting verses.

Uh, the scripture is full of stories of people that were persecuted. You could go back to Abraham and he gives birth is Sarah gives birth to Isaac and what Ishmael persecuted Isaac, right? He spoke against him and just straight through the Bible.

Uh, Joseph was persecuted. Daniel was persecuted. So I'm not just going to read Bible verses all night, although I could, uh, but I want to talk about how we should respond. How should we view persecution?

Cause we do view it as bad or good, bad, right? Automatically you think, well, this is bad. Well, it's really not as bad as you think. So I want to kind of challenge that, but how should we respond? And here's why you shouldn't be discouraged.

Blessings in Persecution and the Church's Growth

Okay. So Christians need to number one, be prepared for persecution. And number two, we need to know how to respond because at the end of the day, as Marcus said, uh, Jesus promised great blessings to those who suffer persecution.

Now I know you're thinking, well, I'll just forgo those blessings and not be persecuted. That's not really what you want though. I mean, the severe persecution, obviously nobody wants that, but look at first Peter four 14.

Again, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, what does it say again? Blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Uh, where did Peter get this idea? Well, he got the idea from Jesus, right?

Matthew 5 10 blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So Peter is simply saying what Jesus taught him. Uh, the book of revelation details the most persecution directed at the saints more than any other book of the Bible.

And isn't it interesting that the book of revelation is the one book in all of the scripture that promises a blessing to those who read it. A lot of people avoid revelation because of all the judgment and all the persecution, everything going on, but no, the Lord says you're blessed if you read that book.

So if we have faith and believe what God's word says, there are great blessings to be gained here. So here's the bottom line. Okay. Christians thrive under persecution. I don't want to say that when people attack me or say things against me that I thrive on that, but I kind of do.

Okay. Sorry. That's just the way it is. Christians thrive. Now I'm not out there looking for it. Don't get me wrong, but Christians, the church thrives under persecution. Let me prove that to you. One common saying, I'm sure all of you have heard it.

The blood of the martyrs is what now the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Who's heard this blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Great. At least a few of you. I pulled this article offline.

It says the second century church father Tertullian lived in Carthage in North Africa. And when persecution of Christians was at its apex in those days, the blood of martyrs soaked the earth as believers were fed to the lions, beaten, whipped, sawed in half, put to death by sword, burned in the fire and chained in prisons.

Tertullian maintained that the more Christians were persecuted and moaned down, the more they would multiply because according to him, the blood of Christians is seed. So what is he saying? The more they tried to kill Christians and get rid of them, the more Christians just kept popping up.

Why is the Christian church in the United States in such a sorry condition? And it is in a sorry condition overall. Why? Because we have it made in the shade. That's why people become complacent when they have things too good.

You need that struggle in your life. Like Paul had the thorn in the flesh and he had to battle against that, whatever it was. And God would not take it away. Paul thrived with that thorn. Now that's not the way he didn't like it.

He didn't want it, but we need that adversity in our life. It's like going to the gym, you know, no pain, no gain. Like you have to put something in, uh, you have to have that struggle. You have to have that hard work before you can gain any benefit.

A Tertullian statement that the blood of the martyrs is seed was later interpreted as the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. This loose translation likely developed from a sermon by St. Augustine, where he said the earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed.

And from that seed have sprung up the crops of the church. So long story short, whenever there's persecution, Christianity grows. I mean, that's just the fact you can look at it all over the world. And I don't know if this is true, but I've heard this.

You've probably heard this, that in countries like China and Iran, that's where Christianity is growing the most. I mean, maybe that's not true. I don't know. I don't live there, but that's what we hear.

But these are places where the church is persecuted. But again, in Europe where, you know, Christians had it so easy, what Christianity is like non-existent in Europe now. So if you want the church to grow, if you want the church to thrive, what do you need?

You need at least a little bit of persecution. You think of the best stories in the Bible, the stories we love. Usually it's somebody facing some great challenge or opposition. You know, those stories in scripture where, man, they just had a good and they're just relaxing and everything was like, well, I don't know if those stories exist, number one.

And if they did, you wouldn't be all that interested in them because when you're persecuted or when somebody does die as a martyr, which again is very, very rare, I believe the word martyr is the same word as witness, right?

They are a great testimony, a great encouragement to all the saints. So under persecution, Christianity grows. Now, I don't want you to be afraid. There's some people who respond maybe to this subject with fear.

Again, let me emphasize the odds of you facing any type of intense persecution, it's next to zero that you're going to face that really. In the first century, when persecution was common, the book of Acts, even the rank and file Christians really didn't face intense persecution.

Who did? It was the apostles, right? So if you read the book of Acts, there was a progression. The first leader, Jesus, is crucified. Then his most high level followers were threatened, put in jail, right?

James and John were beaten and imprisoned. And then after that, there's kind of a ramping up. So they're threatened, they're beaten, they're imprisoned. And then you get to Stephen who is killed and then James in Acts chapter 12.

So my point is, if that type of severe persecution ever came to this country, it would be directed towards the most high profile leaders and you would see it coming. 99 sure that would be the case. Now, could you lose your job for being a Christian?

Sure. Oh, that I'm sure that has happened locally. Could you be in prison? Probably not. Probably not going to happen. Now, as some of you know, the reason why you might have guessed one reason why I'm doing this study is because there has been some local persecution of Christians recently.

Long story short, most of you already know about this, but a local school, a Christian school was basically the, the town council or the town school committee tried to shut them down. And the only reason the school got approved is because lawyers got involved, or at least that's the way it looks.

If the town had their way, they wouldn't be opening up. And then when it looked like, Oh no, this school is going to open. What happened? People wrote into the newspaper and said that they have a white supremacist agenda, which is absolutely ridiculous.

I mean, it's, it's a total lie. What is that? That's persecution. I mean, can you imagine, I don't want to name some other minority group, but can you imagine if the town council like banned this minority group from setting up?

So like that would never happen. And if it did, it'd be the end of the world. Right. And then people writing into the newspaper saying the worst possible things about them, everyone would recognize that that's persecuted, but when it's against Christians, well, that's different.

That's okay. So this is real persecution happening locally. And the newspaper, they don't print like I've had articles declined. I know other pastors that the paper will not print their articles because they're too offensive.

And yet they write that slander. So, I mean, that type of thing is happening locally. Now is that severe persecution or is it minor persecution? Well, it's minor persecution, but it's still persecution.

I know that the temptation is that we don't want to use the word persecution unless it's really serious. No, let's use the word. That's still what it is. That's still what it means. But when people say stuff like that and tell these lies, those accusations, let's face it, they can be harmful.

If you mentioned someone's name and an accusation that can harm them. On the other hand, there's also real potential for God just to bless that school beyond their wildest imaginations. And I'm trusting in God that that's what he's going to do.

Romans 8, 28 says this, that God causes all things to work together for good. Now, how many things? All things, even the bad things, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose.

So, I say if they want to persecute Christians in Western Mass, hey, bring it on, you know, because we've seen, you know, we're living on easy street, easy time, nothing's going wrong. Everyone's got it great for the past 40 years and then churches are in rough shape.

So, hey, let's bring on the persecution and then maybe the churches will actually grow and get fired up for God. Now, do I really want the persecution? No, but what I'm saying is if it comes, we just need to trust in God and say, this is God's will and he's going to work it out for.

Our good. That needs to be our attitude. Yes. I think we've had minor persecution during COVID when they shut down the churches and there were people, there was a pastor in Canada that got imprisoned who were saying, no, we're still having a church.

And I think Moore's Corner Church actually saw some growth by not shutting down. So, there was some growth.

There for not succumbing to that. Yep. I agree. We got our sign spray painted too in 2020 and we got 2 ,500 bucks from the insurance company and someone just wiped it off with a cloth. So, it worked out great.

I mean, it works out great in the end. Well, it was actual spray paint. It did take a little more work than that. It's true, but the point is we've had it so good for the most part and yet in most church, and I'm not trying to say this about Moore's Corner Church, but generally speaking in evangelical churches, people tend to be kind of lukewarm.

Churches can't get along. Nobody's really working together, right? If we face persecution, it would kind of force us to come together. In fighting a common enemy, we would, I think, get closer together.

So, however it works out, whether persecution comes or not, it's a double-edged sword because nobody really wants it, but if it happens, in the end, Christians are better off. Now, if intense persecution came, the church building might not be better off, but believers would.

The church is the people. We would be better off. And God forbid someone faces extreme persecution. Let's say worst case scenario, somebody, and it probably wouldn't be many, but let's just say worst case scenario, somebody in New England died for their faith.

Well, great is their reward in heaven. The question is, do we believe that? Can we embrace that? So, persecution is not something to fear. Who wants you to be afraid? Yeah, the devil wants you to live in fear.

He wants you to be afraid, but God has not given us a spirit of fear, right? The power of love and of the sound mind. So, Satan wants us to be afraid. God wants us to trust in him because many times, even most of the time, I would say God does protect and deliver his people.

And we could talk about stories where, remember Daniel in the lion's den? Did God deliver Daniel? I know there's a tradition that the apostle Paul was beheaded for his faith, but in second Timothy, I believe he ends the letter saying that God has delivered me from every evil work.

So, God does most of the time deliver his people. And then there's those moments in history like Israel living in the land of Goshen, right? They enjoyed hundreds of years of peace and contentment, but then persecution came to Egypt.

And I think in the United States, we've had this time of peace and things have been well, and it might not last forever, but in the end, overall, God delivers his people. So, if you take notes, write this down, I would say the number one point I want you to remember, persecution is nothing to fear, okay?

Say it along with me, because I know some of you don't believe that, but persecution is nothing to fear. Point number two, persecution actually causes Christianity to spread. And number three, if it ever does come, again, we would see it coming.

It would really affect like the leadership, high profile people. So, you'd have time to prepare and it wouldn't be as bad as you think. And I think to myself, I could envision this happening maybe if this country keeps going in the direction it's going.

I could envision possibly in the future, I would have to pack up and leave Massachusetts and go to Montana or Idaho or something, you know? It wouldn't be the end of the, I don't want to, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

But do I actually fear for my life? No, not at all. So, you really shouldn't be afraid. So, let's turn to Acts chapter four. We're going to read a passage. There's several chapters in Acts that are just really good to look at.

We only have so much time. But as you're turning there, let me repeat those points again. Point number one, persecution is nothing to fear. Point number two, persecution makes Christianity spread. And number three, if it ever comes to this country in a severe way, we'll see it coming.

I think we would have time to prepare. And the average rank-and-file Christian is rarely, if ever, affected by the severe type of persecution. Does that make you feel a little better? I mean, it should.

And there are some people, I'll say this, there are some people online who, I don't know if I would call them fear mongers, but there's people who want to kind of paint the worst possible situation. And I hope I never do that.

I mean, I do need to be realistic of what could happen, but I don't want Christians to live in fear. There's just no reason for it. And this kind of leads to the fourth point. You don't realize how good you have it.

Or maybe you do, and then praise God for that. But I think a lot of us maybe take things for granted. We, you know, we complain that Christians don't have that societal influence that we once did, you know, before the 60s and the 70s.

That's what we're complaining about. But really, again, that's been a rare thing that Christians have that kind of influence in society. So America is very, very unique. And why do people come here to begin with?

Why do people leave England and come to the United States? Because they were persecuted over there, so they came here, and we've had a good for several hundred years. One more thing before we read from this passage in Acts 4, because when you hear persecution, who would you expect the persecution to come from?

Yeah, I think with COVID, we would think, well, it's coming. It would come from the government. And most of the time, yeah, persecution has come from the government. But here's the thing that we kind of lose sight of.

Persecution sometimes comes from other professing Christians. You could talk about the Catholic Church who tortured people and killed people. You know, many Protestants died at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church.

We covered this in our church history series. And of course, back then, the Catholic Church and the state were united, so that was a unique thing. But then even the Protestants persecuted the Baptists.

Remember that section of church history that doesn't get talked about a lot? And even some Protestants, even locally, I remember there was a newspaper article that talked about this, how back in the, I don't know if it was the 1700s, 1800s, where even locally in Leverett, there were Protestants persecuting Baptists.

But anyways, so the government will persecute. Other Christians sometimes will persecute. Of course, I would argue they're not true Christians if they're persecuting believers in Christ. And in the end times, we'll see sort of another form of this where the church and state, for lack of a better term, are united.

Right, there's going to be Babylon and then mystery Babylon, like a one world government, one world religion, one world economic system with the mark of the beast. So you're going to get that same type of thing that is going to come from the government and the established, you know, churches during the tribulation.

But that's another sermon for another day. Let's look at Acts chapter 4. This is the story of Peter and John being arrested. Acts chapter 4, starting in verse 5, and it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Okay, so a miracle occurred. The apostles are brought before the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, and they're asked the question, you know, who gave you the right to do this?

What power, what name have you done this? So who's putting the apostles on trial here? Well, it kind of tells us in verse 5, their rulers. Okay, so this is the governing authority. You say, no, no, this is the religious authority.

Well, in Israel, it was the same, you know, the government and the religion, same leadership. So it's both. And just take note of this, the people in power, even if they don't say they, because we're living in another unique time where the people in power, a lot of them will say, we don't have a religion.

This is nothing about religion. Any set of beliefs that you're protecting and advancing, it's still a belief system. So whether they call it a religion or not, this is why Christianity gets persecuted, because Christianity is seen as a threat to the powers that be.

So why does Kim Jong Il in North Korea not want Christianity coming in? He thinks it'll be a threat to his regime. And you know, he's probably right to some degree, because people will be worshiping King Jesus and not him.

And that's why Caesar persecuted Christians, because although they were good citizens, and I don't want anyone to ever think that I'm like anti-government or like I'm encouraging people to disobey or anything.

No, the governing authorities were established by God. Christians should be, and I think we are some of the best citizens, but we don't bow the knee to Caesar. We only bow the knee to Christ. And that's why governments persecute Christianity, because they want to be God, essentially.

The leader wants to have full control. All right, verse eight. So the rulers are questioning the disciples. Verse eight, then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him, this man stands here before you whole.

Now, let me just point something out. Peter didn't have to throw that part in, okay? So on the one hand, because there's a passage where the apostle Paul says, if somebody persecutes you, bless them, right?

Don't revile them, bless them. Jesus on the cross, he said, you know, father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Christians should turn the other cheek, but we can still speak the truth when it's true.

Okay. So Peter points it out, you know, by the way, you guys crucified the Messiah. I don't think they liked that very much. And then he goes on verse 11. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

And let me paraphrase that you made the worst mistake in the history of the world, worse than a mistake. Verse 12, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.

And it says now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated in untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus and seeing the man who had been healed, standing with them.

They could not say anything against it, but when they had commanded them to go out or to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men for indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them.

It's evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. So you see, they recognize that these men, the apostles performed a miracle. They did this wonderful thing, healed this poor man. And what's their response for 17, but so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name.

Okay. Now, how do you make sense out of that response? They acknowledge they did this wonderful thing, but let us threaten them that they keep quiet. Don't do it again. Why did they say that? Yeah, it was a threat to their power and authority.

See if Jesus is Lord, then all of a sudden they're not looking so good. If Jesus is Lord, then all of Israel should follow this group and not them. So when Christians are persecuted, oftentimes that's really the motivator.

People are trying to cling to power verse 18. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. And did they listen? But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge for, we cannot, but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

So when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding no way of punishing them because of the people. So in other words, they would have beaten them and done all sorts of things, except they feared the people because the multitudes were pretty simple.

If they didn't believe in Jesus, they were kind of sympathetic to the whole cause. Verse 22, it says for the man was over 40 years old on whom the miracle of healing had been performed and being let go.

They went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them, which of course they're looking terrible. Verse 24. So when they heard that they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Who by the mouth of your servant, David has said, why did the nation's rage and the people plot vain things? The Kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for truly against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.

So you just think about Jesus being crucified on one hand. This was the most sinful act ever perpetrated in the history of the world, right? Would you agree with that? This is the most evil thing mankind has ever done.

It was persecution. They crucified the son of God and yet God used that for the greatest good. The worst thing ever led to the greatest thing ever in the salvation of the world. So that's the way God operates.

Whatever the devil does, whatever the world does, whatever, you know, the powers that be, whatever they try to do, it will always backfire. They cannot win. Now, is that a personal guarantee for me and you that everything's going to go great?

No, there's no personal guarantees, but in general, it will work out for good. Now, let me ask you again, do you believe that? Okay. Verse 29. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness, they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your Holy servant, Jesus.

And when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken. So the power of God is being felt. It says they were all filled with the Holy spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

And then verse 33 says in great grace was upon them all. So long story short, uh, when the Christian church faces persecution, that's when the power of God is greatest upon our lives. So I could just think, and it's starting to wind this down.

I can just think of a few times in my life where I went through the greatest difficulty. I can now look back and see that's when God was at work the most, right? I mean, it's, it's a testing, right? When you go through, it's like a refiner's fire.

You come out the other end. When you pass the test, you recognize the, Hey, I can do that with God's help. I can do this. And we become stronger and we have greater faith and we even are purified. So I can see that now at the moment when you're going through it, do you look at it that way?