Christianity isn’t for Sissies
Debunking Myths of Christianity Sermon #1
Matthew 10:16-39
For many years Satan has used the lie that Christianity is just for sissies and cowards. He has got many people to believe this Myth and propagate to others. They say, “real men don’t follow the wimpy Jesus.” Real men drink hard, fight hard, and sleep around. He has convinced many that on the soft, wimpy sissies, follow Jesus. I remember that myth being tossed around as a young kid. In major league baseball and football they questioned certain player’s toughness and their ability to get the job done because they were a followers of Jesus. In other words being a Christian made you soft. You weren’t aggressive enough. You had to be mean. Although it has been bantered around for a long time and believed by many around us it is just not based on fact. If fact just the opposite is true. To be a wholly devoted follower of Jesus you have to be more of a man than to follow the crowd. You have to stand up against the crowd. Swim upstream against the moral pollution on our culture. You have to refuse to do something just because everyone else is doing it. You have to march to the beat of a different drummer. Anyone can go along with the crowd it takes courage to refuse to do so, and to act differently from the peer pressure around you. Anyone can cave into the pressure - real masculinity has enough internal strength to refuse to do wrong just to fit in. Anyone can do something good when everyone is applauding you, but it takes great moral strength to do right when everyone is mocking you for doing it.
I Expect Persecution 16-20
1. The Disciples had not faced persecution or even opposition yet, and Jesus wanted to prepare them for what was to come.
2. His warning was not to frighten or make them suspicious. Their mission was to convert the unsaved, but he did not want them to be surprised when they weren’t received with open arms.
3. “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” 2 Tim. 3:12
4. It is not continual suffering and hardship or uninterrupted persecution -Jesus or disciples didn’t.
5. But faithfulness to God will cause some degree of persecution in every life.
6. It will come from: Men acting under Satan
1. Religion v17b Today primarily Islamic and Hindu
2. Government -v18 “for my sake”
7. God’s Provision of what to say 19-20
II Prepare for Opposition 21-23
In his book “God in my corner” George Foreman has a chapter entitled “What will people think of Me?” In the chapter his shares his struggle with this common struggle for Christians. He said he wasn’t afraid to step in the ring with toughest boxers in the world Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Ken Norton, but he feared being rejected by other. He wanted to be loved and accepted by everyone. After his conversion he quickly discovered that unanimous approval was never going to happen. Friends started avoiding him, and even his family didn’t understand what had happened to him -they thought he just flipped out. He had to admit he had felt the same way about church people all his life.
“Ultimately your belief in God will meet resistance, which forces you to either shut up or speak up.”
After giving his testimony at Robert Schuller’s church, the Crystal Cathedral, he panicked when he discovered it would be broadcast nationwide. “I didn’t want people making fun of me, and no desire to be fodder for some late-night comedians’s routine.”
Two incidents in his past popped into his mind to increase the fear. Some of his girlfriends came to watch him box in Canada. One girl mentioned that she had recently talked with a star baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Guess what he told me? she asked, rolling her eyes, “He said he’s been born again.” The other girl laughed and said “You better get out of my face with that junk!” Before he had found religion they admired the guy. Now they were making fun of him.
The second event happened after his sisters had gone to an Al Green concert. When they got home one sister said, “We went to hear Al Green tonight, and the music was great. But then he got up and started talking about God.” In disgust she placed her hands on her hips and snapped, “I didn’t go to that concert to hear a sermon! I go to church when I want to hear a sermon.”
Because he couldn’t stand the thought of being ridiculed in front of a camera he resigned his television contract as a boxing commentator working with Howard Cosell. He never wanted to be seen in public again. He spent the next few months in church, praying and reading the bible reprogramming his mind. Courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it. He said, “Finding Jesus Christ was the best thing that ever happened to me, and my life gets better every day, so I’m going to tell my story regardless.”
He called the two girls who made fun of the baseball player and told about his conversion. He was surprised to hear her say, “I’ve been trying to get my life together, and that’ want I needed to hear.”
Many people were thrilled he found God, others didn’t like him because of it. “I wasn’t surprised when I lost some friends. He would call and leave messages and they wouldn’t call him back.
George overcame the craving for people’s approval by making his desire to please God greater than his urge to make others happy. He found his acceptance in God, not in people.
A. Hated by Family “A mans enemies will be the members of his own household” 35,36
B. Hated by society v22
-some believers in the world are in almost continual conflict, while others seem to miss it entirely.
-may be testimony so weak it goes unnoticed by the world.
-We must hold on and not quit to the end
-persecution quickly burns away the chaff in the church.
C. Having to Run
-persecution is not to be sought or endured for its own sake.
-We are not obligated to stay in a place of opposition and danger into death if we can leave
-Jesus himself did this.
“These things I have spoken to you, Jesus told them, “that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation (trouble), but take courage, I have overcome the world”
John 16:33
III The Reason for Persecution and Opposition v24
A. Allegiance to Jesus- Not because you are annoying and obnoxious.
B. As the master the servant
John 15:18-21
18 "When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. 19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ’A servant is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you! 21 The people of the world will hate you because you belong to me, for they don’t know God who sent me.
IV Encouragement for the Persecuted 28-31
-The natural response to Jesus’ words is fear. So he says 3 times in the next 6 verses don’t be afraid. Don’t be Afraid
A. Reasons not to be Afraid
1. God will vindicate You - So proclaim it boldly
-it is not important what the world says about us now, but what God says at the final day.
2. God has limited what they can do.
-the absolute worst they can do is take your life. God will take you to paradise.
-Chose to fight against the devil instead of God.
- I would rather fight against the devil and persecutors than be found fighting against God.
-If we fear God we don’t need fear anything else (not terror, but reverence and awe)
Martyrs p222 -223 MacAuthurs Matthew
Over 300 years of Roman persecution Christians dug nearly 600 miles of catacombs beneath the city of Rome. Archaelolgists estimate 4 million bodies buried there. Perhaps 50 million killed in Dark Ages, and millions in our own century by communists in Europe, Asia, Africa. The feared men so little because they feared God so much.
3. God has highly valued us 29-31
-God will not allow permanent harm to come to us
-140,000 hairs on head ave.
V A Challenge to the Persecuted v32
A. No Christians in the Secret Service
B. If we admit we are a follower of Jesus to the world, He will admit we are his follower before God.
C. If we deny we are a follower of Jesus to others, He will deny he knows us to God.
A true disciple must openly identify with Christ.
Everyone has lapses of faithfulness which God will forgive. Peter did three times. Repented, and got another chance.
Young Timothy must have been struggling so Paul said to him, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.” 2 Tim. 1:8
I remember being afraid to admit it in grade school when asked by a classmate. I didn’t say much or try to convert my best friends in high school, so I went back one on one to witness. The disciples in Acts 4 after being threatened by the religious not to preach anymore felt fear creeping in and went to pray and asked for boldness to proclaim the message.
VI A Call to Absolute Allegiance v34
A. Our loyalty to Christ must be greater than family ties
B. When one becomes a Believer there will be division in the family.
-some become literal enemies William Murray and mother Madlyn Murray O’Haire
C. No relationship in your life is to be above your relationship with Christ
-Allegiance to Christ may/will cost loss of friends and family relationships
-May be temporary - You may win them to Jesus by your stand
Elijah- Prophets of Baal
-One thing is sure if you don’t put Christ first You and you family will burn in hell together, if you do put him first you may save them all, it is the only way.
-Love Christ above all -requires personal knowledge - relationship not religion
D. Take up the Cross and Follow
“A cross is the willing sacrifice of everything one has, including life, for the sake of Christ”
It is a death to the old selfish nature within, so that Christ may rule in our lives. If we don’t die-Christ can not rule. Many Christian have come to the Cross of Christ for salvation, but have not picked up their cross to follow him.
Jim Elliot soon after graduating from college, wrote in his diary, “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one like You, Lord Jesus. Jim Elliot died young on the end of a spear for the Auca Indians taking the gospel into the jungles of Ecuador.
My favorite quote from Jim Elliot “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Conclusion: It only make sense. It is most reasonable. Because if you try to save your life, you will lose it anyway in time. If you live for self and the praise of people. It will be fleeting. Temporary. BUT if you lose you life following Jesus -You get to keep it.
If you give up houses and lands ..you get 100 times in this life and more in life to come.
Life is going to be a struggle. I would rather fight against the devil, than to fight against God. Who will you choose to fight against?
