THE REALITY OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
(Part 1)
Acts 4:1-4
A woman in India watches as her sister is dragged off by Hindu nationalists. She doesn’t know if her sister is alive or dead. A man in a North Korean prison camp is shaken awake after being beaten unconscious; the beatings begin again. A woman in Nigeria runs for her life. She has escaped from Boko Haram, who kidnapped her. She is pregnant, and when she returns home, her community will reject her and her baby. A group of children are laughing and talking as they come down to their church’s sanctuary after eating together. Instantly, many of them are killed by a bomb blast. It’s Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. These people don’t live in the same region, or even on the same continent. But they share an important characteristic: They are all Christians, and they suffer because of their faith.
While Christian persecution takes many forms, it is defined as “any hostility experienced as a result of identification with Jesus Christ.” From Sudan to Russia, from Nigeria to North Korea, from Colombia to India, followers of Christianity are targeted for their faith. They are attacked; they are discriminated against at work and at school; they risk sexual violence, torture, arrest and much more.
In just the last year (2021), there have been over 340 million Christians living in places where they experience high levels of persecution and discrimination, 4,761 Christians killed for their faith, 4,488 churches and other Christian buildings attacked, 4,277 believers detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned. These numbers are heart-breaking. And yet, they do not tell the whole story. James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-4)
Representatives from Open Door USA, state “that joy is what we see when we hear and work with Christians all over the world who suffer because they serve Jesus. God cares for His people, and He will never leave or forsake them.” (Source: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/)
Acts chapters 4-8 chronicles the persecution that was experienced by some of the very first members of Christ’s Church. The Apostles were arrested, threatened and beaten severely for their refusal to cease preaching the Gospel. Rather than being discouraged and becoming fearful to the point of abandoning their work for Jesus, the Apostles “rejoiced that they were counted worth to suffer” for the cause of Christ.
It is likely that no one in attendance today has ever faced physical persecution for their faith in Jesus. However, it is important for us to know that persecution is a reality and these verses show us how to respond if/when we are persecuted for the cause of Christ. I would like to look to Acts 4:1-4 and examine “The Reality Of Christian Persecution”.
In this passage, Peter & John are arrested as a result of peaching Jesus to the crowd that had assembled at Solomon’s Colonnade. This crowd had gathered in response to the miraculous healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. (3:11-26) When the religious leaders learned of the work of the Apostles, they were furious, and they persecuted the servants of Christ.
The opposition that was prevalent in the early church continues today. I would like to begin by considering the fact that:
CHRISTIANS WILL FACE OPPOSITION & PERSECITION AS THEY MINISTER FOR THE LORD
v1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
The message that Peter preached at Solomon’s Colonnade would be the spark that ignited the first persecution of the Christian church. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Promised Messiah and even though He had been rejected and crucified by the Jewish people and their leaders, God had “raised up His Servant Jesus”. By this time, Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and glorified. After His resurrection, Jesus had been seen by many witnesses, taught His Apostles, ascended to Heaven and was currently seated at the right hand of the Father. These truths were rejected by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and they vehemently opposed the preaching of the Apostles. This shows us:
A. THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
In those days, the Sadducees were the leaders of the Jews and the Apostles’ message blatantly contradicted their stated beliefs. The Sadducees were skeptics who rejected all the Old Testament except the Pentateuch (the books of Moses); they also did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. To complicate matters even further, the Sadducees had formed an alliance with the Roman government. By cooperating with the Romans, they were able to maintain their positions of power, influence, and wealth.
The preaching of the Apostles was very offensive to this sect and it undermined their authority and influence. The Sadducees resented the fact that the apostles were teaching the people at all; they felt that this was their responsibility. Added to their frustration was the content of their message (the Gospel of the risen Christ).
The message that Peter & John preached also infuriated the “captain of the Temple”. The captain of the temple was second only in rank to the high priest. The Romans had delegated the temple-policing responsibility to the Jews, and the “captain” was the chief of the temple police force (a group composed of Levites).
As we have already stated “the priests, Sadducees and the Captain of the Temple” were not only upset that they were teaching, they were furious because what they were teaching. This leads us to:
B. THE REASON FOR CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
Verse 2 says that they were “greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
If the message that Peter & John preached was true (and it was), then the Sadducees were incorrect in their teaching concerning the resurrection of the dead. Furthermore, if the Apostles’ message was true, then the religious leaders were indeed guilty concerning the death of Christ.
Just a few weeks earlier the enemies of Christ had presented Him as a blasphemer and saw to it that He was crucified. Now Peter and John are proclaiming that Jesus was correct when He proclaimed to be the Son of God and therefore not a blasphemer. Furthermore they are teaching the people that this same Jesus has risen from the dead. Because of this, the authorities “laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” v3
- Verse three shows us that:
THERE ARE VARYING DEGREES OF OPPOSITION & PERSECUTION AGAINST CHRISTIANS
By this point it was late in the evening, (the healing of the lame man occurred somewhere around 3:00 p.m.) Chapter 3 tells us that the Apostles addressed the crowd at the time of the afternoon prayer. The nation was under Roman rule, but because of their alliance with the Romans, the Sadducees possessed much power and authority over the temple grounds. Because of this, they were able to arrest Peter & John for causing a stir by preaching a doctrine that contradicted their beliefs. As a result they “put them in custody until the next day”. The Sanhedrin (the Jewish high court) would be meeting the following morning, so the Apostles were imprisoned until they could appear before them.
When considering the entire context of the book of Acts, we can learn much about Christian persecution. We see that:
A. SOMETIMES PERSECUTION IS VERBAL
After the Sanhedrin convened the next day, they decided to threaten the Apostles verbally. - v17 But so that it (the Gospel) spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name." 18 And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Their threats did not intimidate the Apostles and they continued to preach Jesus to the crowds in Jerusalem. It would not be long before they were summoned to stand before the council once again. This time, they would be beaten as a result of their service to Christ. This shows us that:
B. SOMETIMES PERSECUTION IS PHYSICAL
In the remainder of chapter 4 and on into chapter 5 we are told that the Gospel continued to spread and multitudes were converted. This did not escape the attention of the religious rulers; in fact, it infuriated them; so much so that they persecuted them physically. Notice - Acts 5:40 “…when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”
Physical persecution was not enough to stifle the preaching of the Apostles, we are told that after they were beaten,“…they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41)
Christians all over the world face verbal and physical persecution; Furthermore, many of them have (and others will) lose their lives as a result of their stand for Jesus. This leads us to the fact that:
C. SOMETIMES PERSECUTION IS FATAL
As we continue our study, we will encounter the stories of several first century Christians who were killed as a result of their refusal to compromise their faith. In Acts 7 Stephen becomes the first martyr and then in chapter 12 we are told that the Apostle James was beheaded.
Since the early days of the church, millions of Christians have been persecuted to the point of death in an effort to suppress the Gospel message. In spite of the intense persecution, the Church is alive and well, the Gospel is still spreading, and God is still moving!
Throughout the history of the Church, Christian persecution has resulted in the advancement of the Kingdom. This was the case in our selected text as well. Though the Apostles faced opposition and persecution, the message of the Gospel had a profound impact on the people who were gathered.
We have no way of knowing how many people were gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade, but we do know that a great many of them responded by repenting and believing in Jesus Christ. This shows us that:
GOD IS SOVEREIGN IN THE MIDST OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
In the previous chapter, Peter called on the crowd to “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). The following verse tells us that many heeded his words and were saved as a result. Notice - v4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Once again Luke references the rapid growth of the early church. In chapter one there was 120 faithful followers of Jesus. In chapter two, as a result of the moving of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s sermon at Pentecost the number grew to over 3,000. Now, in response to the message at Solomon’s Colonnade, another 2,000 men were added to that number. The scripture states that the number was now at 5,000 men. When you consider the women and believing children, the church could have consisted of ten to twenty thousand people at this point.
As Luke has already pointed out, this growth came from the Lord. He says in Acts 2:48 that “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” God was using His faithful servants to grow Christ’s Church. Though He was the source of the increase, the Believers were the vessels that He was working through. Those early Christians were empowered by the Holy Spirit and faithful to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover, God was performing many “signs and wonders” through His Apostles.
Even though Peter and John were now imprisoned and enduring opposition and persecution, God had not abandoned them. In fact, He has placed them in a position to reach the leaders of the Jews with the Gospel. When the Sanhedrin convened the next morning they were both furious and astonished. They were disturbed that these untrained Galilean fishermen were teaching the people. They were greatly troubled that they were proclaiming that Jesus (the man whom they were responsible for crucifying) had risen from the dead; At the same time they were dumbfounded by the transformation of the lame man.
Knowing that the crowd had been witnesses of this miracle and that they would be infuriated if they harmed Peter & John, coupled with the reality that they could not punish these men for such an act of kindness, they threatened the Apostles and commanded them to cease preaching in Jesus name. Even though they faced persecution for preaching the Gospel, their labor was not in vain; for “many of those who heard the word believed”.
Christian persecution is a reality; and if you are faithful to share the gospel of Christ you will face opposition. There may even be a time when you face persecution; Acts shows us that persecution may be verbal, it may be physical, and it may even be fatal. Regardless of how intense the opposition may be, this is not an indicator that God has abandoned His people. For it is often through persecution that the Kingdom is advanced.
I pray that we are willing to suffer for the cause of Christ. We find much hope an encouragement in the actions and attitudes of the Apostles as they faced persecution in the first century. They show us that we can even rejoice in the midst of persecution. Furthermore, through persecution, God may use us to reach lost souls with the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is likely that there are some here today who have never accepted the Gospel message; you have never surrendered to Jesus Christ. I pray that you would follow the example of those people who were gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade and repent and believe in Jesus for salvation today. If you have, then I encourage you to resolve to share that message with others, even knowing “The Reality Of Christian Persecution”.
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