The Roots of Endurance
Matthew 13:20-21
Persecution has often been the watering pot for exponential growth in Christianity. Though Satan has sought to quench the fire of the Gospel through persecution, it seems that dungeon, flame and sword has been an effective means of its progress. But it is interesting to note that so few in Christianity know so little about persecution when the Scripture is replete with its teaching. You might be excused for being ignorant of persecution and I might be forgiven for not teaching about it, if it were not for the fact, in the New Testament alone, there are almost 540 verses that speak on the subject. And we might be inclined to miss the teaching of persecution if it were not for the fact that 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to persecution. Every book in the New Testament except, Titus, Philemon, 2 & 3 John refer to the subject.
This is not a subject I can ignore as your pastor and still remain a responsible shepherd. The subject must be broached and it must be so in depth.
In this passage, Jesus notes the instance of a person who receives the teaching of the Word of God and yet does not understand the full import of persecution. People in this situation find themselves drawn to the pleasant truths of the Word of God but cannot grasp the spiritual warfare that plays itself out in the form of persecution for those who seek to follow Christ. The key idea of this message is that those who receive the message of salvation without real understanding of the Gospel and it concomitant (related) persecution will fall away when persecution arrives. It is necessary, therefore, to understand the place of persecution in your life as a Christian.
I think William McDonald in his book, "Evangelical Dilemma" touches on this key idea when he says, "A…defect in our message is our tendency to keep the terms of discipleship hidden until a decision has been made for Jesus. Our Lord never did this. The message He preached included the cross as well as the crown…We popularize the message and promise fun. The result of all this is that we have people believing [with] no doctrinal basis for their decision. They do not know the implications of commitment to Christ. They have never experienced the mysterious, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration." And I have to say this is why they fall away.
I want to touch on five truths about persecution that will help us to understand its necessary place in our lives.
1. It is to be expected
The first truth of persecution is it is to be expected. Now let me say that we will not cover the purposes in persecution today. This is for another time. There are reasons God allows and uses persecution but we will not look at these now. In 1 Thessalonians 3:4 Paul says this, "For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know." Paul announced to this fledging church that persecution was an inevitable event for them.
What I find so amazing about the statement Paul makes to this church is that he was only in Thessalonica for approximately 3-4 weeks. What this means is that in the short span of teaching he provided for this church, persecution was a prominent doctrine. And he didn’t say, "We told you" but "we kept telling you." This was an important concept he didn’t want the Thessalonians to miss.
As a matter of fact, the reason he wrote this letter to them now was because he heard they had been experiencing persecution. And he was concerned that perhaps he had not clearly taught them about it. In verse 5 he says, "For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain." He knew that persecution is one of Satan’s tactics to discourage believers in their faith. He puts into people’s heads that if they are experiencing difficulty or hard times they must be doing something wrong.
But Paul wanted to make sure they were grounded in their faith. He wanted to confirm they understood that receiving Christ, as their Savior, didn’t mean that somehow life would become better for them. He wanted to verify that their hope was in the fact that Christ rescued them from the wrath of God through His death and resurrection and not in the promise of some better life this side of glory. He wanted to make certain that they were not following a self-centered gospel, which is no gospel at all. And in order to do this he made sure he laid a firm foundation of the doctrine of persecution.
It is amazing what properly laying the foundation of this doctrine can do in a person's life. I remember sometime last year I made a passing comment at the end of a service about the fact that if you commit yourself to obey Christ then Satan will certainly bring circumstances to oppose you. I received an email a couple of days later from a new believer who told me that this is just what happened to her. She was on the receiving end of persecution because of her new found faith. And guess what? She was excited about it because she knew it was coming! She saw the promises of the Word of God as true. And it didn’t discourage her faith but increased it.
Now what if I had closed the service that Sunday by saying, "Remember, Jesus wants you to be happy and healthy and have peace and joy and a general good life"? Do you think that anyone would begin to think, "Ah, persecution awaits me, I can’t wait"? Would anyone who heard me have been encouraged when they went out into the marketplace and began to be ridiculed for their faith? Or would they have thought that they were simply doing things wrong and wondering why evil had befallen them? Why was it, they might think, that I don’t seem to be reaching my potential?
Persecution should be expected in our lives. In Acts 7:52, as Stephen was defending himself to a group who sought to oppose the Gospel message he told them, "You are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" Stephen was making the comment that every one of those prophets who had been faithful to God’s Word received persecution at the hands of mockers and scoffers. If this was the case with the prophets do you think we, who desire to follow Christ, shall escape persecution? Paul in his second letter to Timothy noted in 3:12, "Those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." We can expect it. There is not a promise of riches and wealth and health or any such thing but a promise of expected persecution for those who follow Christ.
Think about Jesus’ words from John 15. In verses 18-19, he said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." There are two reasons Jesus says we should expect persecution. First, the world persecuted Him and we follow Him. We shouldn’t expect that the disciple would receive better treatment than the teacher. If they mistreated the esteemed one, how much more so the followers of that teacher. The world hated Him, therefore, if you follow Christ, the world is going to hate you. The second reason we should expect persecution is that we are not part of the world. The world hates us for this because they feel condemned when we will not participate in their evil deeds. They become enraged when we don’t agree with their wicked opinions. They seethe when we say that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Such things go against the grain of those in the world because they cannot understand Jesus’ teaching. We can expect persecution.
2. It results in greater reward
The next truth of persecution is that it results in greater reward. In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus tells us, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Those who suffer for Jesus’ sake receive a greater reward in heaven. Now note that this does not relate to self-inflicted suffering. Nor is it suffering you receive for doing evil. It is suffering you receive for doing good in the name of our Savior.
Look at the type of persecution Jesus mentions. They are insults and false accusations of evil. When you calmly yet boldly speak the truth for Christ people are going to slander you. Recognize this. Probably these are the hardest blows to receive. Perhaps a family member backhands you with a rude comment about your faith. Maybe you’ll receive a blow from a co-worker who belittles your Christian standards. Listen to Jesus’ words, "Blessed are you…rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." I can remember, as a new believer in college, I received many insults and evil speech against me for my relationship with Christ. But I had memorized these verses in Matthew 5 and would meditate on them and it would give me great joy for two reasons. First, it encouraged my heart to know that this honored God and brought heavenly reward. Second, I realized that I was not alone in this suffering. The prophets who were before me had received similar abuse and insults.
And as Jesus says, truthfully, we must respond in this way to persecution. If you seek to follow Christ, you will be persecuted, but it will result in greater reward for you. So rejoice! Be glad because the prophets were persecuted like you. Exult in God who is giving you greater reward because you suffer for the name of Jesus.
3. It should not be a cause for fear
The next truth of persecution to note is that it should not be a cause of fear. In other words, the expectation of persecution should not cause us to fret or worry or even change the way we conduct ourselves to avoid persecution. In Luke 12 starting in verse 4, Jesus tells us, "My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do…everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man shall confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God…and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and authorities, do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense, or what you should say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
Why do we become fearful over what someone will think about us if we speak to them about the Lord? Who is the author of this kind of debilitating fear? Why are we fearful over repercussions for what we say concerning Christ? Why are we worried about offending someone by telling them about our faith in Jesus? It is because this is a spiritual battle. And when we experience cowardly fear that keeps us from speaking the Gospel we can know that Satan is at the bottom of it all. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind." If God doesn’t cause within us a spirit of cowardly fear then it is from the evil one. This is why Jesus prayed for His disciples, "I do not pray that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one."
Pastors today are changing the message they speak so their churches appear more user-friendly. They want to be seeker-sensitive. So they deliberately avoid preaching about sin or God’s wrath or other subjects that might be offensive. Why is this? They fear rejection. They want to bring more people in. But what is the sense of bringing people in if they are not going to hear the truth of their need to be rescued from the wrath of God?
We cannot hedge on the basic tenets of the Gospel even if they may cause offense. We cannot deny that Christ is the only way to the Father. We cannot deny that hell is God’s punishment for those who refuse to repent and trust Christ. We must affirm these without fear, because if we do not, the Gospel will be muted and we will be ineffective witnesses for Christ. We need not fear those who can kill the body for they cannot destroy the soul. Those who wish to harm us can only go so far and for only so long.
Believe me, compromise in the Gospel starts with one shred of truth at a time. If you are not willing to speak about this truth because you fear offending someone then there will soon be another piece of truth that you will give up until you have cast in the whole lot. Jesus said that whoever denied Him would be denied before His Father. Do not worry, persecution is not a need for fear. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say in the proper time.
4. It is a gift
The fourth truth of persecution is that it is a gift. You say, "What?! Persecution is a gift from God? What are you saying, Dave?" In Philippians 1:27-30, the Apostle Paul says, "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents-which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For it has been granted to you for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me."
Paul calls for the Philippians’ need to stand firm in the defense of the gospel. But the interesting thing to note in this passage is that Paul calls their suffering for the sake of Christ, a gift. He said, "it has been granted to you to suffer for His sake." The word, "Granted" is the same word used of the spiritual gifts God grants to His church. He has given to us as a gift, the privilege of suffering.
We have to stop right now, shake our heads and get the 21st century cobwebs out. First, we, in the 21st century (at least in the West), have such an aversion to suffering, we immediately think this is some kind of joke. The problem is that we have been thinking in the world’s mindset and not God’s. The reason we think this way is that we see suffering as bad. Yet the suffering we endure, that takes place for the sake of the Gospel, is good because it is redemptive. Now I don’t mean that our suffering somehow pays for either our sins or the sins of others. But God uses the suffering we endure for His name to bring other people to know Jesus Christ as Savior.
Both Paul and Peter describe this redemptive aspect of suffering in persecution in their letters. In Colossians 1:24, he says, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions." Paul does not in any way think that his sufferings pay the penalty for sin. This is clear for he says in the very next chapter that Christ paid completely for all our sin. Peter also notes this redemptive aspect of suffering.
In his first letter, chapter 2, verse 12 he says, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." Peter tells us here that as we continue to live righteously for Christ and are reviled for it, it will cause people to glorify God in the day of visitation. I have discussed this before, but the day of visitation in this passage is not speaking about the return of Christ, it describes the time when an individual comes to faith in Jesus.
So the purpose in our suffering is to allow us to bring people to faith in Christ. Note this well; Satan seeks to destroy us through persecution and suffering. Yet it is from this fragrant offering of suffering for Jesus’ sake, God uses for His own good purposes; to save many people from their sin. This is how our suffering becomes redemptive. God uses our suffering to draw people to Himself. When others see our hope in the new life we have in Christ, they will seek likewise seek this Savior.
So if God graces us with the gift of suffering for His sake we can recognize that we are participating with God in the redemptive work of bringing people to His Son.
In Acts 5, Peter and John had been arrested and falsely accused for preaching the gospel. Verses 40&41 say, "They flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." If God gives us the privilege for suffering in the name of the One who suffered for us isn’t it a special gift?
How do you respond when you know that you are going to receive a gift? What if you know, it is a very special gift? Do you get excited for it? Do you long for it? How do you view the gift of suffering? Do you want to bear more fruit for the Savior? A grain of wheat, unless it falls to the ground and dies abides alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. Let us willingly and joyfully and longingly endure suffering in persecution so that the fruit of God will be borne out in our lives. Let us readjust our thoughts on what this life is all about. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) this will mean that we must readjust what we think about our purpose in life as being. Is it to lounge around the house entertaining ourselves? Or does our life as a redeemed heavenly citizen mean something more than serving-self? I hope you see it worth more than simply, "Here we are, entertain us."
5. It produces a greater work of the Spirit
The fifth truth about persecution is that it produces a greater work of the Spirit. In 1 Peter 4:12-16, Peter tells us that we should not "be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though strange thing were happening to you; BUT TO THE DEGREE THAT YOU SHARE THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, KEEP ON REJOICING…If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, BECAUSE the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."
There are people who eagerly look for a greater work of the Spirit. They seek certain gifts and expressions of the Spirit. Well, let me tell you, this is it. The work of the Spirit is not non-intelligible gibberish that does not build up other believers, but the work of the Spirit is the believer’s response, in the midst of persecution, when this person in their distress (by the power of the Holy Spirit) calls out, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." There is a special way in which the Holy Spirit comes upon an individual who is trusting God in the midst of persecution. This greater work of the Spirit cannot be explained, though it is evident. The Spirit of God rests upon you in the midst of persecution. Oh, we might not want it or run after it but if we commit ourselves to a faithful Creator in the midst of it, His Spirit will rest upon us for His glory. When the Spirit works in your life in this way during persecution you are blessed. This might accurately be called the second blessing (though this term is misused by others).
What can we learn about persecution? We should reckon it as a normal part of the Christian life. When persecution comes into our lives we should not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that falls upon us as believers. Let us be willing, if need be, to suffer shame for the name of Christ, that we might go on our way rejoicing and praising the God who gave us His Spirit and did not leave us alone as orphans.