Series: Characteristics of Believable Believers

Title: Expecting Persecution

Text: Acts 13:44-52

I. Persecution Stories

Mehdi Dibaj was born in 1934 in Iran into an extremely wealthy Muslim family.

He came to Christ as a teenager and went to seminary and became an Assemblies of God minister.

In 1979 he was put in jail for 68 days because of his faith.

In 1984 he was arrested again. This time he was in jail for nine years, and regularly suffered torture.

Finally on December 21, 1993 an Islamic court in the city of Sari condemned him to die.

During the trial, Dibaj said the following in his defense:

"Life for me is an opportunity to serve Him, and death is a better opportunity to be with Christ. Therefore I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honor of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord and enter His kingdom sooner, the place where the elect of God enter everlasting life, but the wicked to eternal damnation."

Due to international pressure, the government of Iran released Dibaj in January of 1994.

For the next five months he encouraged other believers in Iran. Then in June 1994, he was mysteriously abducted and suffered martyrdom.

As a convert from Islam to Christianity, he counted the cost, he expected persecution.

The Rev. Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theology professor in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler.

His most famous books are: Letters and Papers from Prison and The Cost of Discipleship.

In 1931, after spending a year as guest lecturer at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he discerned God calling him away from the safety of the United States, to return to Germany to stand up against the ungodly Nazi influence.

Gradually, "The Gestapo... banned him from preaching; then teaching; and finally any kind of public speaking."

Bonhoeffer would not be silenced.

In April of 1943 he was arrested.

Eventually, he was sent to a concentration camp in Flossenbürg.

Finally, on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before the allies liberated the Flossenbürg concentration camp, Bonhoeffer was sent to the gallows.

http://www.dbonhoeffer.org/node/3

Bonhoeffer counted the cost. He expected persecution. He followed the Good Shepherd away from the safety and wealth of his guest lectureship in New York, to certain persecution and death in Nazi Germany.

A few years ago, Islamic militants invaded Festus Lado’s village in Sudan. He was barely a teenager.

He and 30 of his young friends were bound hand and foot and placed in underground cells. They were humiliated and tortured.

Later they were dragged outside where their backs and feet were beaten and their bodies were placed over hot charcoals till they passed out. Several of them died.

Their crime? They refused to denounce their Christian Faith and become Muslims.

One night Festus and a few of his young friends escaped and found their way to freedom.

But even if they had not escaped, they would rather have faced torture and death, than to deny Jesus and convert to Islam.

Even in the midst of this horrible horrible persecution, "Sudan has the fastest growing Church in any Islamic nation."

Mission experts estimate that 1 out of 200 Christians throughout the world are martyred for their faith. Far far more are persecuted.

All over the world, it’s recognized by believers, that:

"The blood of the saints is the seed of the church."

When believers are prepared to suffer persecution, the church grows and grows and grows.

 

Here in America, it is easier to be a Christian than anywhere in the world.

It’s so easy that we take it for granted.

It’s so easy that we become surprised and wounded when people reject our faith.

Muscles become strong by resistance. Historically, the church has become strong when it faces resistance, when we face persecution.

(David W. Virtue, 17 Nov 1999)

Paradoxically, when we face no persecution, we become weak and anemic.

Last Sunday I spoke from John chapter 10, where Jesus said,

27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27 (NIV)

True disciples of Jesus, not only recognized and listen to Jesus’ voice, but they follow him wherever He leads, no matter the cost.

Unfortunately, many American Christians think that Jesus will only lead them into health and wealth, into freedom from all pain and persecution.

Ultimately, like a Good Shepherd, Jesus leads us to green pastures, but at times he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.

In John chapter 15 Jesus said some very uncomfortable words, words I’d really rather skip over, but I wont. He said,

18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

20Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also....
John 15:18-20 (NIV)

One of my least favorite promises in the Bible is Second Timothy 3:12. It says,

12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

2 Timothy 3:12 (NIV)

In John 15, Jesus said his followers will be persecuted.

In Second Timothy chapter three, St. Paul, both from personal experience and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said the same thing – you will be persecuted.

If you go looking for and enjoy persecution, you’re a masochist.

If you expect persecution, you’re a Christian realist – you have counted the cost of following Jesus.

How did Paul and Barnabas react to persecution?

Let’s take a look at our reading from Acts chapter 13, beginning at verse 44.

The city was the ancient city of Perga. Perga is about eight miles inland from the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in what today is the modern country of Turkey.

On the previous Sabbath, Paul reviewed the history of God’s saving acts with a small group:

The exodus from slavery in Egypt

The judges who defeated the ungodly Philistines.

The rise of King David.

And finally Jesus, who was rejected and killed by the Jewish leaders.

Jesus whom God the Father raised from the dead, in fulfillment of the ancient prophecies.

On this next Sabbath day, almost the entire city turned out to hear him. Obviously, many of his hearers from the week before had been gossiping the Gospel.

They were supportive.

They were enthusiastic.

Whenever you present the Good News of Jesus Christ:

In your church.

In your home.

In your school.

In your work place.

Expect persecution. Don’t be surprised.

How did Paul and Barnabas respond to the few Jews who spoke abusively?

Were they surprised? No.

Were they angry? Did they respond with abusive language? No.

Did they back down and close their mouths? No.

They expected persecution. They were not surprised. They were not intimidated.

 

They didn’t beg them.

They didn’t rationalize with them.

They didn’t argue with them.

They simply accepted the fact, that some will be hostile to the Gospel.

As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10,

14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. ¹⁵I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. ¹⁶I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:14-16 (NIV)

Our job is to sow the seeds of the Gospel, not to make them come up.

Some people will abusively reject the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Others will welcome the Good News with open arms.

We must accept the fact that some seeds will come up and some will not.

Some people will receive the Good News of Jesus Christ, and some will not.

In our increasingly "hostile to the Gospel" world, we must learn to expect persecution.

Don’t think, "If I’m getting resistance, I must be doing something wrong."

No, if you’re getting resistance, you’re probably doing something right.

As St. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter four,

12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV)

In Paul and Barnabas’ case – Acts 13:46 – some of the Jews abusively rejected their message, so "they [turned] to the Gentiles."

Paul and Barnabas did not allow their apparent failure to discourage them. Verse 51 – No, "they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them," and moved on to those who were receptive.

What was the result?

They "were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."

Acts 13:52 (NIV)

 

How would you like to be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit during a time of persecution? How would you like to become a more believable believer?

Then expect persecution. "...do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you."

As the old Air Force saying goes,

"If you’re not getting flack, you’re not over the target."