How To Respond To Persecution (John 15:20)
We live in a world that is loath to experience any persecution. Few seem willing to endure hardship for the sake of righteousness, truth and enduring freedom. No wonder CNN and the New York Times continually promotes victimology in their daily reports. However, Jesus reminds Christians that persecution is a part of abiding in Him.
Illustration:Richard Foster, in his Celebrration of Discipline, tells the story of a medieval monk who was unjustly accused of various offenses. One day the monk looked out the window and saw a dog biting and tearing a rug hanging out to dry. God said to the monk,
"That is what is happening to your reputation. But if you can trust me, I will care for you - reputation and all."
When our reputation is being bitten and torn, we need to trust God to restore, repair and reconstruct.
Peter wrote, "But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you follow his steps. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threat. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." (I Pet 2:20,21,23)
John 15:20 "Remember the words I spoke to you: ’No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also."
Illustration: In ancient Rome, crowds by the tens of thousands would gather in the Colosseum to watch as Christians were torn apart by wild animals. Paul Rader, commenting on his visit to this famous landmark, said, "I stood uncovered to the heavens above, where He sits for whom they gladly died, and asked myself, ’Would I, could I, die for Him tonight to get this gospel to the ends of the earth?’" Rader continued, "I prayed most fervently in that Roman arena for the spirit of a martyr, and for the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart, as He worked in Paul’s heart when He brought him on his handcuffed way to Rome." Those early Christians "lived on the threshold of heaven, within a heartbeat of home, no possessions to hold them back."
Our Daily Bread.
1. PERSECUTION FOSTERS MATURITY - Realize that persecution of the Godly is a normal part of the maturing process for every Christian. Jesus reminded us that a part of following Him is to identify with Him even in His suffering.
"For consider Him who endured such suffering of sinners against Himself lest you be worried and faint in your hearts." (Heb. 12:3)
The most mature Christians are those who are willing to continually take up their cross and follow Christ regardless of the pain, shame or adversity.
Remember that God is working His will in ways that we cannot see or appreciate at the time.
Illustration: One old hymn says, "Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free. No there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me!"
As we follow Jesus we will have to experience more of the pains, shame, and hardships as we are called to carry our own cross and follow Him. God uses people who have shown themselves to be faithful in little things and rewards them proportionate to their endurance under hardships. (Luke 16:10)
2. DESPISING PERSECUTION IS SELF-INJURIOUS - Jesus said, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20) By complaining or shirking from hardships, persecutions, or criticisms we are in effect distancing ourselves from identifying with all aspects of Christ.
We must remember that no servant is greater than His master, but every pupil when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:40)
A part of growing into a useful servant is enduring the suffering, shame, and indignities that Jesus went through. This process is meant for our benefit to produce greater maturity, godliness, and insight into His will for our lives.
Job said, "When I am tried I will come forth as gold." We too need to have this optimistic outlook for the stresses that we face as this will help us triumph through the most difficult of circumstances.
3. YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN BEING PERSECUTED - Let remember the numerous examples of people who endured persecutions for the sake of Christ throughout history.
Heb. 11:35-38 says, "Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them."
Isaiah was the most quoted prophet in the New Testament and yet he found strength even though it meant that the Lord allowed him to be sawn in two.
These people were blessed by God through His enabling grace that was sufficient for any trial. God used these great pioneers of the faith to lay a trail for the rest of us to follow.
Many great Christians were humble people who when reviled they did not retaliate in kind, but kept entrusting themselves to the Lord and His greater purposes.
Allow God to work through you regardless of whether you can understand all that is happening to you. When you look back on your hardships from heaven you will fully understand why God allowed each and every trial to come into your life.
When we look at life from an eternal perspectives it alleviates stress and helps us focus on God’s perspectives rather than our own limited-selfish views.
4. BLESS THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU - Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Jesus said in Matt. 5:43,44. This may be one of the most difficult commandments, but it is entirely within the realm of our God given capacities.
Remember when Stephen prayed for those who were stoning him in the book of Acts. Others declared that his face was like that of an angel because they observed the power of God flowing through him. This is not an admission of weakness, but rather of the strength that we are relying on through God’s sufficient grace. (2 Cor. 12:9,10)
5. FORGIVE YOUR PERSECUTORS - Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 22:34) Jesus knew that many who persecute the Godly are doing so in ignorance. We need to learn how to forgive as Jesus forgave us. (Col. 3:13)
6. PRACTICE SELF-CONTROL - Be diligent, vigilant, and self-controlled when you are undergoing persecution. Recognize that the devil prowls around us like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and will use anyone or anything to cause us to stumble - even carnal Christians.
As I Peter 5:8-10 says, "Resist the devil, stand firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
This great promise should give every Godly person the incentive to persevere in trials!
7. DO NOT FEAR - Do not fear persecution as much as fear not living up to the potentials, callings, and levels of maturity that God wants you to attain.
Paul said, in 2 Timothy 1:8,9 "Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or be ashamed of me His prisoner. But join with me in the suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace."
The greatest sins that most Christians make are not the sins of commission like lying, stealing, and killing. Yet, the sins of omission - not living up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, but merely settling for levels of others expectations.
Jesus said, "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses it for my sake will save it." (Luke 9:23,24)
8. PRAY FOR PERSECUTORS - Pray for those who are undergoing persecution. That they will stand firm in their faith (I Pet. 5:8-10) That they will forgive those who persecute them (Lk. 23:34) That they will not be fearful of men, but trust God. (Rev. 2:10)
That they will not repay evil for evil, but will seek to live at peace with everyone. (Rom. 12:17-21)
God will ultimately vindicate the righteous and allow them to experience the victory that is in Christ Jesus. "In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
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Mocking Christians in Hollywood
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Posted: May 15, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A new film is coming under criticism from a Christian film and television organization because it mocks Christianity and depicts those who follow Christ as foolish and irrational.
According to Ted Baehr, founder of the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry, the film "Saved!" which will be released on May 28, purposely ridicules Christians. I watched the movie trailer for this film today and was saddened to see that the Christian characters are portrayed as virtual nitwits.
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Illustration of Persecution on Christians by Hollywood:
"’Saved!’ is a hateful, politically correct movie," Dr. Baehr warned. "It is being heavily marketed to the community it mocks to lead Christian youth astray and make them resent their own faith."
"The one character who tries to preach the Gospel in the movie," he stated, "is actually the villain."
Dr. Baehr, publisher of ">MovieGuide, formulated this scenario: "Imagine if this movie were set in an Orthodox Jewish school with faithful Jewish children cast as the villains and a Christian girl shows how legalistic the Jewish girls are. Or, what if it were set in an Islamic school with faithful Muslims cast as the villains and a Christian or Jewish Girl exposes how legalistic the Muslims are? The outcry in the press would be tremendous! Not to mention the righteous outcry from Jews or Muslims!"
But this is modern-day America, and Hollywood frequently takes on a singular and hostile temperament in regard to Christians. It is the equivalent of reckless racial profiling that endangers people solely because of their skin color. In the same way, when Christians are habitually illustrated as hate-mongers and religious tyrants the end result can only bring about trouble for believers.
Many in the film community were up in arms about potential violence against Jews prior to the release of Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ." Those false alarms never came to be; but it is troubling that those who were concerned about potential violence as the result of one film do not have similar apprehensions regarding the anthology of movies that habitually depict Christians as cruel ogres.
Films like "Saved!" wouldn’t be so alarming if Hollywood had a semblance of balance in its treatment of Christianity. But in today’s Hollywood, there are rarely positive depictions of Christians. I admit that there are a few crazies in the Christian community, but Hollywood chooses to falsely depict us all as Fred Phelps-types who hate homosexuals and indignantly push our beliefs on others.
Two years ago, Michael Medved, writing in USA Today and commenting on the film "Frailty" (about a man convinced that God has instructed him to murder several strangers), noted how some respected movie critics used the film to condemn what one of them termed the "intolerant fundamentalist faith."
In the article, Mr. Medved said there was a "prevailing Hollywood bias against intense religiosity." Several years ago, he scrutinized Hollywood’s obsession with portraying prostitutes in a positive light. The connection here is that Christians -- who hold to the absolute truth of the Bible -- are seen as adversaries of the situational ethics that have come to define Hollywood. Instead of addressing their own moral ambivalence, Hollywood leaders instead assault those who choose to walk with Jesus Christ.
It’s a childish tactic, but I insist that it is also very dangerous.
Don Feder, in "A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America," wrote, "Christians are the only group Hollywood can offend with impunity, the only creed it actually goes out of its way to insult. Clerics, from fundamentalist preachers to Catholic monks, are routinely represented as hypocrites, hucksters, sadists and lechers. The tenets of Christianity are regularly held up to ridicule."
Given the fact that "The Passion of the Christ" was so popular (as of May 11, according to Box Office Mojo, it had made $368,205,546) one would think that Hollywood would put its collective biases against Christians on hold in order to enlist more Christian moviegoers. But I fear that the hatred against Christianity has so invaded the Hollywood culture that insiders cannot see past their predispositions against us. The end result is that we can expect more movies like "Saved!" to bitterly revile those who love the Christ of the Bible.
And they say Christians are the ones who are intolerant and divisive.
