The Command and a Call
“Winners do not do different things, they do things differently”…wrote the wise management guru Shiv Khera in his book “You can win”. I want to rephrase this sentence oozing wisdom slightly and put it this way “Christians may not do not do different things but they are commanded do things differently”. Take the matter of dealing with those who persecute us. We have been commanded (nothing less) to LOVE THEM (Matt 5:43-48)!
Christians, who have been at the receiving end of communal persecution for no fault of theirs in the state of Orissa in India and many others going through similar kind of persecutions across the globe, would doubtless find obeying this commandment very, very difficult. But when we consider the fact that that this commandment has been given for our good, perhaps it would become easier for us to obey it. What do I mean, by for our good? Examine the following verse carefully and the answer would emerge
“Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” –Heb 12:15b (NLV)
Who suffers the most, when there is bitterness in your heart? Is it not YOU who is harbouring bitterness? No second thoughts on this score, please! For it is said that bitterness of spirit, is like an acid in a vessel. It corrodes and destroys, the very vessel in which it is stored. We are the ones’ who would suffer from increasing hypertension or mounting glucose levels, whenever we nurse a strong desire to get even, with someone who has wronged us. Our health deteriorates, even as the impelling desire to get even consumes us. Would it not serve us well then to hand over (I admit it is easier said than done), all our grievances to the ONE, who has said, “Vengeance is mine” (Deu 32:35/Romans 12:19).
The claim “vengeance is mine” is no empty boast of the ONE, who has “settled scores” countless times historically. Jesus handed over Himself to His Father, even as His enemies (Jewish religious leaders and many other Jews) subjected Him to inhuman treatment. Add to His physical and spiritual anguish, the torment of people mocking Him, at the foot of the cross (Matt 27:39-43/I Peter 2:21-23), and the picture of extreme provocation with a capital P would emerge. But did the Son of God threaten to get even? NO! But would the Father keep quiet? The devastation of Jerusalem and the massacre of more than one million Jews in 70 AD is a chilling reminder of the fact that God keeps His word for good…ALWAYS…be it in the matter of blessing or even “settling scores” on behalf of His wronged ones’!
It is indeed surprising that Scriptures bear witness to the fact that godly souls, who would not as much as harm a fly had more enemies, than one can remember. In this Sermon, for better understanding of the
a) Exemplary measured response of devout souls to persecution and
b) God’s ways’ of dealing with enemies of His dear ones’
I have categorized the adversaries into 3 groups…
I. Enemies stronger than us
II. Enemies as strong as us and strange, as it may seem
III. Enemies weaker than us
all with an intention of inspiring my committed Church members to commit their ways in the matter of persecution into His omnipotent hands.
Let us go step by step
I. ENEMIES STRONGER THAN US
Now the Early Church had a crisis. Acts chapter 12:1-4 somberly records the fact that apostle James, the brother of Simon Peter was put to the sword and Peter himself was imprisoned by the envious King Herod. Now this Monarch could not simply digest the soaring popularity of these early Christian leaders amongst the masses, hence the cruel reaction. While King Herod’s reaction was one of brutality borne out of his jealousy, what was the response of the Spirit filled First century Church? Did it reeling under the weight of unjust persecution invoke God’s curses upon the cruel tyrant? NO FAR FROM IT, IT SIMPLY PRAYED FOR THE RELEASE OF PETER FROM THE JAIL.
Even as we see Peter being miraculously delivered from the prison (Acts 12:6-11), we need not even go beyond the 12th chapter of Acts, to see Divine comeuppance catching up with the heartless potentate Herod in a most melodramatic way. Scriptures point soberly that this Herod, who dared to “poke his finger into the apple of God’s eye (Zech 2:8)” by persecuting His dear ones’ was eaten up alive by maggots (Acts 12:23). Eaten up by worms, after dying is normal but whilst still being alive! Herod got his just desserts alright!
Now did the Early Church in the aftermath of cruel persecution at the hands of this brutal despot, lift as much as it’s little finger to exact vengeance? NO!
God who thunders “Vengeance is mine” took care of that little unfinished business of settling scores! Enemies beware…and more importantly repent…
II. ENEMIES AS STRONG AS US
In organizations (be it even army) people keep a watchful eye on the career path of their peers. If their seniors get promoted, no problem but if their peers get promoted, even if meritoriously…Boy all hell breaks loose…inside
them… that is. Envy and peer pressure (they are bedfellows, you see) are an explosive mix. As someone remarked wisely “If you turn green with envy, it means you are ripe for trouble”. Envy and peer pressure, also called the “crab mentality” (it is joked that for a basket containing live crabs, there is no need to put a covering lid, because if one wants to come out, the others’ will put it down!) can get to anybody. Well, it got to colleagues (having equal administrative powers) of a faithful Jew diligently working his way up the career ladder (Daniel 6). So welcome once again to this oft-repeated remarkable story of Daniel in Lion’s den, which throws up wonderful insights, each and every time it is studied!
Now it is one thing to play political tricks to hinder your competitor’s career progress and it is quite another thing to hatch a diabolical plot aimed at snuffing out his life itself! Well Daniel’s enemies, chose the latter option…sad for them!
Being well aware of their conspiracy (even Daniels juniors joined hands in the plot, ostensibly at the prompting of Daniel’s peers, who were the main villains), do we see Daniel praying for God’s curses to come upon his enemies! NO! Neither in his private chambers before his arrest nor in the Lions den, do we see Daniel nursing an iota of bitterness in his heart. He leaves it all to omniscient and an omnipotent God and the result? The fellows, who expected Daniel to make up the dinner of the famished lions the previous evening, end up being the ready breakfast for the hungry predators, the very next morning (Dan 6:24)! Enemies of God’s chosen ones’ (I Peter 2:9) beware…His special lot, would seem innocuous for all practical purposes but behind them stands a God who can be more dangerous than a roaring lion (Hosea 11:10)… at breakfast time, if I may add!
III. ENEMIES WEAKER THAN US
Yes, strange as it seems, we see sometimes, even enemies who are actually weaker than us provoking us badly. Here it would be all the more tempting to settle scores because there would be no great fear of retaliation! Welcome now to yet another David versus Goliath story…with a difference (David vs Goliath is a phrase, which is not so much inked as engraved in English literature to portray always a battle between the weak and strong)! I Sam 25 pictures a story, where the provoked David is really a forgiving “Goliath” and the provoker Nabal is an impetuous and a relatively much weaker “David”! Scrutiny of this Scriptural account would reveal that the temptation to get even at being insulted was too great even for a man of God’s own heart (I Sam 25:21-22), especially as the provoker was not as strong as him!
But for the timely intervention of wise Abigail (Nabal’s wife) and her wise intercession, David would have had a seared conscience of a man, who took law into his own hands, all his life (I Sam 25:31)! But what about Nabal, who heaped insults upon the anointed servant of God? He was not going to get away, was he? Though David forgave him, verses 37 and 38 of the same chapter record somberly the fact that Divine comeuppance by way of a premature death caught up with that churlish character, shortly.
Forget physical persecution, as this David versus Nabal account testifies even insulting God’s chosen ones’ can prove costly for the careless lot. Even with respect to the Nation of Israel, let us be careful with our words. I shuddered coming across a tirade against Israel by a person wearing the Pastoral “collar”, as it were, recently. Even if all of Jewish actions in the simmering West Asia do not seem overboard, would it not serve us well to remember the Biblical mandate “Do not give him (Israel) your blessing and DON’T CURSE HIM” (Genesis 31:24-TLB)? Better option to exercise at all times is (not my words but that of the Scripture is) “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). Whenever, the Jews have gone astray, have they not received their just desserts from Him? While unbelievers with their finite minds may never get the complete picture of the plans of the infinite God in taking this World towards Eternity…with West Asia being central to His blueprint, a spiritually discerning Christian (I Cor 2:15) should not be surprised with what is happening in West Asia and where the World is headed (for further study on the subject readers may the site of Yours truly by clicking on the following links http://www.jandsmministries.com/message_july1_08.asp
http://www.jandsmministries.com/specialmessage.asp).
The other side of the coin…
Now coming back to the main track (I had used “a loop line”!), no Sermon on any topic is complete, till we look at both sides of the coin, as it were. What about those ruthless persecutors, who at some time, realized the folly of their ways and repented? Did God forgive them? There is an emphatic YES to this question in the Scriptures. What about that rabid Jew, Saul the persecutor, who became a mighty apostle Paul, following his personal encounter with Christ, on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-16)? Or for that matter the jailer who cruelly clamped the limbs of Paul and Silas in the Philippians’ jail in the rusting stocks (Acts 16:24-24) but accepted Christ later? Yes, God keeps the doors of forgiveness open to all who sincerely seek Him…oh yes to even to the likes of Dara Singh and his ilk, who are perpetuating the communal violence in Orissa!
So even as there is a command to persecuted Christians to forgive their persecutors, there is a call to the persecuting lot to repent of their cruel ways and seek the true and ever living GOD, when there is still time (II Cor 6:1-2)!
(Suresh Manoharan)
www.jandsmministries.com
