“When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So, the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” [1]
Ruth faced an impossible situation. Her husband threw her out of their home. He took the children, then took her to court. Her crime? She accepted Christ! Her story is just one of multiplied thousands that take place each year. Her story is mute, though effective, evidence that discipleship is dangerous.
As David Curry, CDO of Open Doors USA, began the press conference as he prepared to release the 2018 World Watch List that details the fifty most dangerous countries for Christians, he said, “Today, I’m dedicating this moment … to a 47-year-old nun who, like Mother Theresa, works with the poorest of the poor in India.” Curry continued by describing how she has been forced to carry out her ministry in the Name of Christ despite threats on her life from Hindu extremists. Curry then detailed how “two Hindu extremists came to her medical clinic, attacked her, raped her, drugged her and left her unconscious, tied to a bed. When the police came to investigate, they began to systematically destroy evidence and had the shoddiest of investigative processes.”
Then Curry appended this dire statement, “That’s what justice [for Christians] is like in India today.” [2]
Discipleship is dangerous—it may cost your livelihood, your welfare, your reputation or even your life. Perhaps that doesn’t hold true in Canada, yet; but it certainty is true throughout our world that being a disciple of the Lord Christ can be dangerous. Scholars estimate that seventy million (70,000,000) Christians have been martyred since New Testament times. What is surprising, and no doubt frightening, is that the same research estimates that over half of these saints were martyred in the last century. About one hundred thousand (100,000) Christians are martyred each year. A quick calculation leads to the conclusion that eleven (11) Christians have been killed every hour for the past ten years—and the killings continue. [3]
To be certain, some secular organisations question these numbers, arguing that many of these included in the reports were killed during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [4] Whatever the actual numbers may be, there is no question but that the persecution of Christians is increasing throughout the world, and that persecution is growing rapidly. Open Doors reports that persecution of Christians reached a new peak in 2015, the latest year of their report. [5] Persecution does not always result in death; persecution may result in loss of income, destruction of property, terrorism of Christian populations, physical injury or incarceration.
Todd Johnson, who provided some of the initial studies on recent Christian martyrdom, acknowledges that though many deaths may not meet the traditional criterion for martyrdom (killing for exclusively religious motives), it is evident that the majority of the deaths occurred in what he calls a “situation of witness.” [6] These are killings that occur not only for doctrinal beliefs, but they are carried out because of the values and humanitarian stances that doctrine inspires. While the majority of the recently reported martyrdoms occur in Muslim nations, Hindu extremism accounts for an increasing number of deaths. “In August, 2008, hostility toward the Christian ‘other’ exploded in Kandhamal, leaving roughly 100 people dead, thousands injured, 300 churches and 6,000 homes destroyed, and 50,000 people displaced, many of them forced to hide in nearby forests where more died of hunger and snakebites.” [7]
Recent headlines from one magazine include: “Pope Francis Quiet on Catholic Persecution of Protestants in Mexico,” “A Ransom for Many: ISIS Releases Last of 230 Assyrian Christian Hostages,” “Six Reasons Why ISIS Attacks on Christians Should be Declared Genocide,” “Suicide Bomber Kills More Than 70 as Taliban Targets Christians Celebrating Easter at Pakistan Park,” “Genocide Up Close and Personal,” “After Pastor’s Wife Buried Alive, Chinese Church Wins Land Battle,” “Christian Refugees in Germany Report High Levels of Religious Violence.” [8] And the headlines continue to this day: “Christian Governor of Jakarta Jailed, Found Guilty of Blasphemy,” “Pakistan Convicts 42 Christians of Terrorism After Acquitting More Than 100 Muslims,” “China Tells Christians to Replace Images of Jesus with Communist President,” “Pakistani Christians Bury 11 After ISIS Attacks Methodist Church” and “Christmas Tree Hasn’t Helped Sri Lankan Christians.” [9]
Jesus warned those who wish to follow Him, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” [JOHN 15:18-25]. Let the wise take heed to what the Master says. Popularity with the world doesn’t factor into discipleship.
Discipleship was dangerous in the days in which Jesus walked the dusty trails of Judea; and discipleship continues to be dangerous to this day. Let me repeat that statement, emphasising what has become a neglected reality, discipleship—real discipleship that takes seriously the call to follow the Master—continues to be extremely dangerous to this moment. A preacher whom I greatly admired was quoted frequently as saying, “If you don’t want any trouble, don’t say anything, don’t do anything, don’t amount to anything.” That was an absolutely correct assessment. The moment you stand for Christ, expect the world to be enraged with you. Moreover, the opposition experience will come from a quarter that you least expect.
On another occasion, you will recall that Jesus warned those who wish to follow Him, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” [MATTHEW 10:34-36]. Living in North America, it is easy to ignore the truth that following Christ is dangerous in many jurisdictions because we don’t like exposing ourselves to what fellow saints experience. We are unaware that brothers and sisters are constantly endangered because of the Faith. Many suffer, and many die! Discipleship is dangerous.
THE WORLD MARVELLED AT LAZARUS — “When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead” [JOHN 12:9]. Undoubtedly, preaching Christ will draw people. A blazing fire always draws a crowd; they want to see what is going on.
The story is told of an incident that occurred in a city some years back. An old-line church had caught fire and was fiercely burning. The minister was called and informed that the church was on fire, and though the fire department attended, the old structure would likely be consumed by the blaze. The minister arose, dressed and went downtown to witness the damage. When he arrived, there was a crowd of people, as always happens.
The minister noticed a prominent atheist watching the building as it burned. Moving closer to the atheist, the minister said, “Well, I never thought I’d see you at church!”
The atheist replied, “I’ve never seen the church on fire before tonight.”
Presenting the message of life in the white heat of transforming faith does draw people. People still are drawn to see the Christ. Even when they reject His message, they want to see Him. The responsibility imposed upon the man of God is to ensure that he preaches Christ as Master over life—hell hot, eternity long, sin black, salvation full and free. To do less is to dishonour the Master and to jeopardise all who might hear the message that man declares.
Just as people are drawn to Jesus as He is proclaimed in power, so they are drawn to Jesus when He is revealed through the lives of those whom He has redeemed. Godly people attract attention without trying to draw attention to themselves. I’ve always found Doctor Luke’s account of Peter and John when they were hauled before the Jewish Council shortly after the Spirit of God was poured out.
Peter and John had demonstrated the power of Christ by healing a crippled man. The religious rulers were particularly disturbed by the healing, but they were especially offended in what was said after that man was healed. The man who was healed was obviously ecstatic, and in his ecstasy he was loudly praising God. Naturally, this drew a large crowd, eager to see what was going on. Seeing the crowd, Peter seized the opportunity to present Christ, as would any individual who loves the Risen Saviour.
Peter boldly declared, “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” [ACTS 3:12-26].
Brought before the Sanhedrin, Peter and John were challenged to account for what they were doing and what they preached. Peter had been waiting for this opportunity. Responding to their query, the Big Fisherman proclaimed, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” [ACTS 4:8-12].
These religious leaders got far more than they bargained for. They could hardly believe what they were hearing. Here were common men defying the might and power of the Jewish Council. It would be very much akin to someone defying the authority of the Supreme Court of Canada—such simply was not done! People quailed, cowered, shrunk when the Sanhedrin spoke. Yet, here were these men defying the power recognised throughout the nation.
Take special note of what is written in the verse that follows. “When [the Council] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” [ACTS 4:13]. Recognising that they had been with Jesus, they were astonished. Just so, when we are transformed by the power of the Risen Saviour, people will take note of us.
Then, compounding their astonishment was an undeniable miracle standing before them. We read in the verse following, “Seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition” [ACTS 4:14]. Take especial note of what I’m about to say to you—One demonstration of the power of Jesus is worth a thousand dreamy sermons! Underscore that thought: One transformed life is more powerful than thousands of pious platitudes. If you are a follower of the Christ, live like one! The redeemed are to commit openly to following Him whom they claim as Master of life.
Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you” [LUKE 6:46]? The Psalmist wrote,
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble”
[PSALM 107:2]
God has no secret service; God has no stealth followers. The Lord rightly anticipates that those who will follow Him will openly confess Him. What else can we add to the Master’s words recorded in Matthew’s Gospel that would make them more intimidating? Jesus warned, “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” [MATTHEW 10:32-33].
The people heard that Jesus was present, and they came to see Him. What is perhaps surprising is that they came “also to see Lazarus!” Don’t ever discount the impact your life has on others when you have been redeemed by Christ. Don’t ever imagine that the world is unaware of the reality of your Faith. While it is true that the world is disgusted by those who pretend to be Christians while living like the devil, they scrutinise those who live to honour the Master. Surely, this is the intent of Peter’s instruction that teaches us, “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” [1 PETER 3:13-15a]. You will be asked what is different about you if you live for Christ and if you walk with Him.
This is the same purpose for Paul’s instruction to those who follow the Master. He wrote, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” [COLOSSIANS 4:5-6]. Be ready to answer, because you will be asked! Your life will elicit questions, if not from the world at large, then assuredly from your own children.
THE WORLD HATED LAZARUS — “So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus” [JOHN 12:10, 11]. Determine that you will live for the glory of God, and you can anticipate immediate and sustained opposition.
As I read this account, my attention is drawn to the conjunction, “So.” This connects what is now being related to what has gone before. Let’s review events surrounding Jesus and Lazarus. Christians even casually familiar with the Gospel accounts will recognise the name “Lazarus.” Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died. Though the sisters sent word to the Master when their brother was first taken ill, Jesus delayed going to them. The disciples thought that the Master’s delay was due to threats from the Jewish religious leaders. When at last Jesus did go to Bethany, He was informed that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days.
Of course, Mary and Martha were grieving. Martha complained that if Jesus had only been present, Lazarus would not have died. Despite her sorrow and her disappointment, she confessed her faith in Jesus as One Who received what He asked of the Father. Jesus did go to the tomb, accompanied by Mary and Martha, His disciples, and many of the mourners. Here is the account of what took place at that tomb.
“Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So, they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’” [JOHN 11:38-44].
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. There was no getting around the fact. Lazarus was dead. Those who prepared his body for burial would testify that he was dead. He was interred, lying in the tomb for four days, a stone covering the mouth of the tomb. There was no question concerning his condition. Then, Jesus went to the tomb, in the company of multiple people, both those who were friendly toward Him and no doubt some who were hostile. Then, Jesus called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and he walked out under his own power.
Note what followed this notable miracle. “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation’” [JOHN 11:45-48]. Pride and ambition drove the religious leaders to begin plotting in earnest how they could kill Jesus. They couldn’t argue that He was a fraud—too many people witnessed what He had done. Jesus was a threat to the continued hold on power the religious leaders had enjoyed. That could never be permitted to continue.
However, Lazarus was not a threat, until his very existence honoured Jesus. If Jesus had never raised Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders would have never cared about him. In fact, it is rather funny, in a macabre fashion. Lazarus had already been dead, and the chief priests were plotting to put him to death. They didn’t think this through. Someone who has already been dead isn’t going to be frightened by some puerile plot to put him to death. He’s already been across the river and knows what awaits him. If that one is a follower of the Christ, he knows that threats of death are nothing more than threats to send him home. Where’s the threat? Sending the child of God home isn’t a threat! In the same way, the world is unconcerned with you, so long as you are a cipher, a mere presence. However, the moment you are made alive in Christ, the world will take notice—and they will hate you!
After Lazarus was resurrected, the word undoubtedly spread faster than a California wildfire through Bethany and the surrounding regions. Jerusalem wasn’t very far from Bethany, and Jerusalem was ground zero for the Jewish religious establishment. The Sanhedrin gathered in Jerusalem where the centre of Jewish the religious life was focused.
The Jewish leaders had tolerated the Prophet from Nazareth, until He claimed to predate Abraham [see JOHN 8:58] and claimed to be One with the Father [see JOHN 10:30]. These claims were too much for these leaders. They hated Jesus. Rather than dull, dry lectures, Jesus taught as one who had authority. This renegade prophet controlled wind and wave, restored people to good health, fed multitudes with a small boy’s lunch. They had seen people they knew to have been blind with restored sight. They had seen deaf people enabled to hear. They had witnessed the restoration of withered hands. However, they were always skeptical, rejecting the testimony of witnesses and claiming that it was mere trickery.
Something was different this time. Jesus had brought a man back from the dead. This was much harder to dismiss. It was no longer a storm that had dissipated or a group of people who followed Him into the wilderness and left with their appetites sated—this time it was a man whom many people knew. Many of those people had testified that Lazarus was dead—they had attended his funeral, they had seen him laid in the tomb. And now, people were coming from a long distance just to see this man who had been dead and brought back to life. The religious leaders hated Lazarus because he destroyed their narrative that Jesus was a fraud, a phoney.
These religious leaders wanted Lazarus dead (again) because they wanted to stop the spread of the Good News about Jesus. They thought that if they could kill Jesus and Lazarus, they would be able to stop the spread of the message that Jesus was the fulfilment of God’s promise to send the Anointed One to redeem mankind. However, they were too late! People were crowding into Bethany so they could see Lazarus; and when they saw him, they were putting their faith in Jesus as the Promised Messiah!
You have heard me say on many occasions that discipleship is dangerous if it is real. Jesus cautioned those who wished to be disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” [JOHN 15:18-19]. He didn’t want anyone falling into the trap of thinking that following Him was without risk.
Among the Gnostic texts is one known as “The Gospel of Thomas.” It is not Scripture, but it does preserve sayings attributed to Jesus. While most are rather pedestrian and mundane, a couple stand out as possibly accurate. One such saying is identified as Logion 82:
“(1) Jesus says, ‘Whoever is near me is near the fire.
(2) And whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom.’” [10]
It is not possible to establish whether Jesus actually spoke these words at some point. However, the intent of what is communicated is consistent with what He taught. To stand with Jesus will be costly. Of those men who heard Jesus say the words recorded in JOHN 15, all suffered greatly because they held to Jesus as Master and because they dared teach what He had taught. Only John would die a natural death, and that only after exile and the attendant suffering that exile included. The rest would all die violent, unnatural deaths.
REAL DISCIPLESHIP IS STILL DANGEROUS — “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake” [MATTHEW 10:16-22a].
David Platt observed, “This is the unavoidable conclusion of Matthew ten. To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus. The danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.” [11] Discipleship is dangerous. The closest circle of Jesus’ followers were men who were brutally murdered because they followed Him. Following Jesus is still a costly proposition to this day.
Simon, known as Peter, was crucified. Because he felt himself unworthy to suffer the same death as the Master, he requested and was granted his request, to be crucified upside down.
James, the son of Zebedee was put to death by Herod Agrippa I [see ACTS 12:1-2]. The Word of God indicates that he was put to death with a sword.
Andrew is reported to have been crucified at Patrae in Achaia. Andrew was scourged because he would not renounce the Faith, and then was tied to the cross rather than being nailed so that he would suffer longer.
Philip is said to have been scourged, thrown into prison and crucified in Heliopolis.
Bartholomew is supposed to have preached in India. There, he was reported to have translated the Gospel of Matthew for believers before he was skinned alive and then beheaded.
Matthew was a missionary to the Parthians, Persians and Medes before he was martyred in Ethiopia by being stabbed in the back with a sword because he criticized King Hertacus’ morals.
Thomas preached the Gospel in Greece and in India, where he was martyred when run through with a spear.
James, the son of Alpheus, was beaten and stoned before his brains were dashed out with a fuller’s club.
Simon the Canaanite (also known as “the Zealot”) preached in Mauritania on the west coast of Africa before travelling to England, where he was crucified.
Thaddaeus, also known as Jude, was crucified in Edessa. [12]
Saul, whom we know as Paul, was beheaded in Rome.
Of the Evangelists, Mark died in Alexandria after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead, and Luke was hanged in Greece because of his preaching to the lost. Jude, the brother of Jesus, was shot through with arrows when he refused to deny the Faith in the Christ. [13] Those who suffer for Christ today, are in a noble train of martyrs.
Those deaths were in the distant past, but what about now? I read of death and suffering dealt out to Christians on almost a daily basis. The news accounts seem always to speak of events in distant lands that don’t immediately impact us in Canada. I read of a Christian in India who was skinned alive. As he was being tortured, he declared to his tormentors, “Thank you. Thank you for tearing away this old flesh so that the new body may be given me.” In China, organs are harvested from Christians so that wealthy people can get a transplant. And yet, the Faith continues to grow in China. [14] Such examples of godly patience should humble us?
One Sunday morning in May as I quickly scanned the news from the preceding day, I read a startling headline that announced, “Family of IS supporters Kill 13 in Indonesia Church Attacks.” [15] The news account is far too common today; in fact, it is so common, that we almost pass over such headlines. The news article described how a family—a mother and two daughters aged nine and twelve—let the enormity and the evil of that fact sink in, a mother using her girls, aged nine and twelve, to kill worshippers of the Prince of Peace—detonated bombs strapped to themselves at Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church. But the news item wasn’t finished; it continued by detailing the fact that her two sons, sixteen and eighteen, drove motorcycles into Santa Maria Catholic Church and detonated bombs strapped to themselves. And the evil wasn’t finished; the father drove a bomb-laden car into Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church. The results were thirteen people killed and forty-one injured as they were preparing to worship. My first thought was that it is still costly to be a believer in many places. Even the infant children of Christians pay a price because their parents are followers of the Lamb of God! Discipleship is dangerous.
That previous day, I had read the account of one of the survivors among the school girls kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram. [16] The news item told how seventeen-year-old Esther was kidnapped and held hostage for more than a year. Because she wouldn’t convert to Islam, she was raped repeatedly and tormented constantly. Not surprisingly, in time, Esther became pregnant and ultimately delivered a little girl.
After a year in captivity, Esther was rescued by a Nigerian military raid and returned to her village. Her father had been killed in the attack by the Islamists, and she had nowhere to turn except for grandparents who mistrusted her after her time among the Islamists. She struggled to accept the child fathered by an unknown assailant until God in mercy saved her and gave her a new heart. Her village distrusted her and called her baby “Boko.” Yet, God worked in her heart to enable her to forgive. Esther said, “People have noticed a change. Some of those people who used to mock me now ask my secret. I tell them, ‘I forgave my enemies and now trust God to take vengeance in His time.’” The child whom the young woman thought she could never love, she now loves deeply. Esther said, “Rebecca has become my joy and laughter amid sadness.”
Discipleship is teaching others and helping others to follow Jesus. That sounds like what Lazarus was attempting to do following his resurrection. Lazarus wasn’t hiding, claiming that he needed to rest after his experience. People knew about his death and how Jesus had raised him to life; he was open about all that Jesus had done for him. Because of this, the world hated Lazarus. For Lazarus, discipleship was far more than sitting around in the local Tim Hortons with a group of hipsters in Bethany. Lazarus was a marked man. He was making disciples and the world hated him because he was drawing people to follow Jesus.
Does the world have any reason to hate you? Is your presence a threat to the denizens of this dark world? Have you had a spiritual resurrection that has caused your life to be marked by Jesus? Are you walking in the light of the Risen Lord of Glory so that your very presence condemns lost people? Does the world witness your new life lived out in the Spirit of Christ? Is the devil threatened by your new life and the presence of the Risen Saviour in your life? I assure you that Jesus’ words still hold true, “You will be hated by all for My Name’s sake” [LUKE 21:17]. His next words will also be true, “But not a hair of your head will perish” [LUKE 21:18]. If you align yourself with the Son of God, living for His glory and endeavouring to touch the lives of those who walk in darkness, you will face opposition. The inhabitants of this dark world will hate you; they will endeavour to destroy you. However, console yourself in this knowledge, you are immortal until God determines to bring you home.
I have spoken of discipleship and the dangers imposed by following Christ. This holy Faith is not for those seeking an easy path to acceptance by the Living God. Jesus warned us, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” [MATTHEW 7:13-14].
God is calling people, not because the path is easy—service for His cause is challenging! God is not seeking people who want great rewards without great exertion; God seeks men and women who are willing to do the hard tasks. There are rewards—great rewards, but they come after the hard service is completed. First, we serve; then we are rewarded with eternal rewards. God seeks those who will boldly go where darkness now prevails, knowing that His power is with them as they go. God is seeking those who are willing to risk all for His Name’s sake.
Despite the difficulties, I know that the Spirit of God calls men and women to faith in the Risen Son of God. He does this that Christ may be glorified in the lives of those who are called. Does this calling include you? You know whether God’s Spirit is now drawing you to faith in the Son of God. You know whether you should respond to that holy call now. If He is calling, answer by believing this message of life. The Word of God promises, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” [ROMANS 10:9-13].
With the Lord of Glory, we plead, “Working together with [Christ] … we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain… Now is the day of salvation.” [2 CORINTHIANS 6:1-2]. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Open Doors, World Watch List 2018, https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWL2018-BookletNew.pdf?utm_source=Colson+Center+Master+List&utm_campaign=64d514ec48-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_84bd2dc76d-64d514ec48-6629605, accessed 18 January 2018; Eric Metaxas & Stan Guthrie, “BreakPoint: The Very Human Tragedy of Persecution,” January 18, 2018, http://www.breakpoint.org/2018/01/breakpoint-human-tragedy-persecution/?utm_source=Colson+Center+Master+List&utm_campaign=64d514ec48-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_84bd2dc76d-64d514ec48-6629605, accessed 18 January 2018
[3] Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., “Martyrs of Today,” Crisis Magazine, November 20, 2012, http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/martyrs-of-today, accessed 15 January 2018; Cf. Todd M. Johnson, “The case for higher numbers of Christian martyrs,” Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/martyrmethodology.pdf, accessed 15 January 2018; “Pope: More Christian martyrs today than in ancient times,” May 27, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/05/27/pope-more-christian-martyrs-today-than-ancient-times/102232868/, accessed 15 January 2018
[4] Ruth Alexander, “Are there really 100,000 new Christian martyrs every year?”, BBC News Magazine, 12 November 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24864587, accessed 15 January 2018; contrast this report with “Study: 90K Christians Were Killed for Their Faith in 2016,” January 12, 2017, http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/01/12/study-christianity-persecuted-around-world-90k-martyred-2016, accessed 15 January 2018; and William J. Cadigan, CNN, “Christian persecution reached record high in 2015, report says,” CNN, January 17, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/17/world/christian-persecution-2015/index.html, accessed 15 January 2018
[5] Kevin Jones, “The Number of Christian Martyrs Tripled in the Last Two Years,” January 17, 2016, https://churchpop.com/2016/01/17/the-number-of-christian-martyrs-tripled-in-2015/, accessed 15 January 2018
[6] “Congo illustrates the new look of Christian martyrdom,” Crux, Mar 15, 2017, https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/03/15/congo-illustrates-new-look-christian-martyrdom/, accessed 15 January 2018
[7] John L. Allen Jr., “Remembering India’s Christian martyrs should be a Church priority,” Crux, Mar 6, 2016, https://cruxnow.com/church/2016/03/06/remembering-indias-christian-martyrs-should-be-a-church-priority/, accessed 15 January 2018
[8] These articles were all taken from Christianity Today: Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, February 18, 2016; Jeremy Weber, In Erbil and Athens, February 19, 2016; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, February 24, 2016; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, March 14, 2016; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, March 17, 2016; Morgan Lee and Jeremy Weber, March 27, 2016; Nina Shea, April 24, 2016; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, April 28, 2016; Kate Shellnutt, May 19, 2016
[9] These articles were also taken from Christianity Today: Jeremy Weber, May 9, 2017; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, February 23, 2017; Kate Shellnutt, November 17, 2017; World Watch Monitor, December 19, 2017; Surinder Kaur, December 22, 2017
[10] Uwe-Karsten Plisch and Gesine Schenke Robinson, The Gospel of Thomas: Original Text with Commentary (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 2008)
[11] David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, (Random House of Canada, Toronto 2010)
[12] Accounts of the deaths of the Apostles is adapted from, Patrick J. Koger, “How Did the Apostles Die?” National Geographic, February 19, 2015, http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/killing-jesus/articles/how-did-the-apostles-die/, accessed 19 May 2018; “When and how did the Twelve Apostles die?” Amazing Bible Timeline with World History, April 29, 2013, https://amazingbibletimeline.com/blog/q6_apostles_die/, accessed 19 May 2018
[13] Bible Probe, http://www.bibleprobe.com/apostles.htm, accessed 19 May 2018
[14] “Faith and Martyrdom: 2016’s Top Persecution Stories, CBNNews.com, http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2016/december/congress-ready-to-cut-un-funding-after-anti-israel-vote, accessed 23 May 2018
[15] Megan Briggs, “Family of IS Supporters Kill 13 in Indonesia Church Attacks,” Church Leaders, May 13, 2018, https://churchleaders.com/news/325373-indonesia-church-attack-successive-suicide-bomb-attacks-rock-3-indonesian-churches.html?utm_source=cl-sundaysend-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=cl-sundaysend-nl20180520&maropost_id=742210145&mpweb=256-6933645-742210145, accessed 20 May 2018
[16] Lindy Lowry, “In Nigeria, Kidnapped, Raped, Mocked, Saved by God: A Boko Haram Survivor’s Story of Radical Forgiveness, Open Doors USA, March 8, 2018, https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/nigeria-kidnapped-raped-mocked-saved-god-boko-haram-survivors-story-radical-forgiveness/, accessed 19 May 2018
*The finalized PDF version of this message will be available at http://newbeginningsbaptist.ca/category/sermon-archives/ after Sunday, 29 July 2018.
