This upcoming Sunday: The Persecuted Church

BONUS! If you'd rather listen/watch today's discussion you can click here to view on Youtube.

This upcoming Sunday we will be concluding our sermon series on "What is the Church?" with a focus on persecution. During the sermon we will focus on the church's mission, the church's enemy, the church's great hope, and what these things mean for our local church. Let me start off this discussion by saying something encouraging right away, not all persecution leads to death! Discussing the persecuted church does not mean discussing the martyrs of the church exclusively. Martyrdom is certainly something which has and does still happen today. However it is far more common and prevalent for the church to experience harsh treatment, fines, imprisonment, kidnapping, enslavement, or loss of public status than to experience martyrdom. 

I think one of the reasons why it's so tough for the church in the United States to discuss persecution is because our society embeds in us rushing to the most extreme edges of topics. Whether it's politics or sports, we in the United States do a great job of polarizing everything. Our culture pushes for passionate "all or nothing" sort of engagement. We either love, or hate something. So when we in God's family discuss persecution in the life of the church, we in the United States rush to the extreme edge - either we focus on martyrdom, death, and the most horrid of tortures experienced by brothers and sisters, or we deny persecution altogether and therefore ignore the topic altogether. 

Throughout the rest of the week I want to share a few stories from the life of the church throughout history (and present) to highlight the faithfulness of God's people in the midst of opposition. Sometimes discussions around persecution can dissolve into (a) guilt trips for fundraising, (b) unhealthy comparisons, (c) bland history lectures, or (d) glorification of person's rather than God. 

I hope to avoid (a) by calling for action regarding prayer rather than calling for action regarding finances.

I hope to avoid (b) by teaching what Jesus taught, warned, and promised regarding persecution and his followers. 

I hope to avoid (c) by connecting the heroic faithfulness of our forerunners with our daily opportunities in the present. 

I hope to avoid (d) by proclaiming the glory of the God of Christian Martyr's rather than proclaiming the glory of Christian martyrs. 

In worship together this upcoming Sunday we will read scripture that speaks extensively on the faithfulness of God's people in the midst of persecution, we will pray for the persecuted church, we will sing songs which stir our hearts, minds, and lives into faithfulness unto the Lord Jesus. 

If you are a parent or grandparent this week and would prefer to have another learning option, we will be offering a Sunday school lesson with games, scripture, and some life application questions about how to respond when our faith is the subject of mockery or ridicule in school or among friends. Children are always welcomed to remain throughout whole worship service or join other children in Sunday school. 

If you'd like to read ahead for some of the scriptures we will be reading or referencing, here are a few to read through: John 16:1-4, Acts 7, Psalm 23:5, Acts 4, Ephesians 6 (read this in connection with Acts 19, the Ephesian believers would have been many of the same people Paul preached to and worked with for 2 years as recorded in Acts 19).

I'll close today by sharing a story from the following ministry (Opendoorusa.org) 

It was an early winter morning when the authorities came to our house. Lily was 12 at the time and had already left for school. They searched everything. Then they ordered my husband and me to come with them.

On the way to prison, I thought about Lily and how she would know what to do when my sister picked her up from school and told her—Lily would pray for us. And when she was afraid, she would pray more.

In prison, my husband and I were split up. I was allowed to call Lily four times a week. I was interrogated daily; soon, they found my weak point. My little girl.

I told them everything they wanted to know about myself, but I refused to give the names of others. “Okay,” they told me, “as long as you won’t give names, you can’t call your daughter.”

Placing my Lily in His hands

“I was devastated. Back in my cell, I couldn’t stop crying. I knew that I did the right thing. Yet how could I live without knowing how my daughter was doing? How could she be comforted without hearing my voice?

While I was praying, suddenly I felt a warm wind stroking my cheeks.

“Take it in,” I heard the Lord saying.

With every breath of warm air I took, I felt my body being filled with joy. In fact, I couldn’t sit anymore. I had to dance for joy and praise God. It lasted all night. All night, I was dancing for the Lord, until the next morning God was giving me the strength to put my beloved daughter in His hands.

Not long after, I was released, as was my husband … through tears, I saw my Lily’s face again. She told me that she had been praying a lot for us. Spending these times in prayer and trusting the Lord in everything was a completely new experience for her.

In hindsight, Lily says that she never grew more in her faith than during that time we were in prison. I prepared my Lily for what would happen when her parents were taken away. And I learned to put my Lily in the hands of the Lord, and He took care of her in miraculous ways.”

God's faithfulness is glorious! As the hymnist Spafford Horatio once wrote:

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come

Let this blest assurance control

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate

And hath shed His own blood for my soul