Are you strong enough to stand? 1 Thessalonians 2.14-16

Good Morning.
Today, we find out what we’re made of, as we examine what others have endured for the sake of Christ. . .

14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. 1 Thessalonians 2.14-16, NASB

Persecution: Hostility; ill-treatment—in this case, because of religious convictions.
The early Church was subject to it, almost from the beginning. The Jews were threatened by all those who had chosen to believe in the “Messiah,” that they were replacing the Law with freedom in Christ, and a message of grace; they wanted those who followed “The Way” shut up. The Romans were sure that the beliefs of what they called a ‘cult’ (the Christ followers) were tantamount to sedition—a threat to Rome, and Caesar himself. So, they passed laws that allowed them to confiscate the property of Christ followers, keep them from working, and even execute the out-spoken leaders of the movement.

I think it is so easy for us to just read over the words about the suffering and persecution of our forbears, and keep moving, since it doesn’t have anything to do with us…now…but perhaps it really does. Follow my thinking here—what if the members of the early Church had not persevered? What if the apostles had stopped preaching, when the way got rough? What if Paul’s fervor for the Messiah had been extinguished when he was mercilessly flogged with a Roman scourge? After all, who could have blamed Paul if after being tortured so mercilessly, he had said, ‘okay, man, once was enough for a lifetime . . . once my back is healed, I am back to Tarsus’?

When persecution goes to its furthest extreme. . . someone dies for the cause. The first Christian martyr was Stephen, but then there was James, the brother of our Lord. Paul would eventually be martyred, in the mid-60s A.D., under the reign of Nero, within a year or two of Peter . . . and eleven of the disciples. Let’s not forget that these same disciples had cowered and hid after Jesus had been crucified—but they were radically transformed after they encountered the risen Lord. Only one thing could account for the change in Peter who denied the Lord three times in His greatest hour of need—but soon after was transformed into a passionate man who became the powerful preacher and leader of the first church; that thing was the Messiah, alive from the dead! HE was why they endured the persecution they did. . .

I wonder how I would do if I was placed in similar circumstances . . . if my home was seized because being a Christian was against the law. . . if I was denied food in the market because ‘Christ is my King’ and not Caesar—or more aptly, the government, the U.S. government. . . how would I do? Huh, some lyrics just ran through my head: Am I rough enough? Am I tough enough? Really. . . I’m not sure--why would anyone just keep on talking about God, or just professing His name, when the resulting treatment was so harsh?

We hear about persecuted Christians today, but even then, it seems so remote for most of us, as they are so far away. Let’s take a nameless man, give him an identity, and imagine being in his shoes? Take Liu Zhenying—his Christian friends call him ‘Brother Yun’. . . arrested and imprisoned the first time at age 17, for preaching the gospel. From then on, he would be a ‘marked’ man by the Chinese government; his crime---being a follower of Jesus Christ, and telling others about Him. His first torture came after leaving a house meeting—“Who are you? What is your business here?” Our co-workers knew something was wrong so they turned around and ran. I also turned to run but it was too late. One man, wielding an electric baton, ran to me and shocked me with hundreds of volts of electricity. I was immediately thrown backwards into the snow. Excruciating pain surged through my entire body. They kicked with their steel-capped boots and struck me with their pistol handles. . .” Yun was incarcerated and tortured again and again, as the government officials tried to make him give up the names of other Christians. He wouldn’t. . . but instead, endured gruesome treatment at the hands of his captors. Why wouldn’t he denounce God, and walk out of prison a free man? His faith in Jesus Christ only grew stronger. Day by day, he replayed over and over in his mind, whole blocks of Scripture he had memorized; as he heard the words of the Lord, they were his sustenance. Yes, God sustained him through it all. Yun ~ a persecuted Christian in today’s modern world.*

Then there are the nameless faces in Cambodia, Cuba, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan. . . any country whose predominant population is Muslim. Sure, there are varying degrees—like in Egypt, where it might not cost a Christian physically, but maybe in social circles or in business.

How would you do? Would I be able to stand up when I stood accused of the crime of Christianity? Do I have the courage to take the heat? I think it depends. . . just how much do I value the Lord in my life? What do you think. . . how about you? “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4.18.) Has my life been transformed in Him, in whom I live and move and have my being—so that I would never renounce Him or want to live without Him? Yes, it has, and I believe that with the strength of the Holy Spirit, I could bear up under the persecution. And. . . what’s more, I am so thankful that the believers in the early Church persevered for the cause of Christ, as did all our Christian forbears who have handed off rich legacies of faith to us. Hallelujah.


Christine


*The Heavenly Man Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway, Monarch Books