Religious Persecution Part 2

foreign
persecution comes in many different
forms
the extreme of course is deny Jesus or
lose your life
and as we've noted there are thousands
of people around the world every year
that are confronted by that choice I
told you the story a little while back
of children in Iraq
being confronted with the choice of
denying Jesus or having their heads cut
off
and some of the stories of faithfulness
to Jesus that have come out of that
situation are mind-boggling
and just incredibly powerful
now most of us in the Western World I
suspect at least In Our Lifetime will
not be confronted by such a radical
choice I can't say that for our children
or our grandchildren nobody knows what
the future holds
but in terms of the immediate future
that's not likely to happen but that's
not to say that religious persecution in
its more moderate form
will not take place in our lifetime or
in our experience because you'll recall
that I've said before persecution if you
study the history of it in countries
where people have had to die for Jesus
never starts off with deny Jesus or I
will kill you
no no it starts off by deny Jesus
or you will lose your job
deny Jesus or your kids will not enter
into University they will have no future
deny Jesus or at least tone down the
rhetoric about Christianity or you will
be ostracized socially I've said before
the world doesn't care what you believe
as long as it doesn't affect how you
live
let it color how you live
and you discover the antipathy the
antagonism that arises when you start
standing up for Christian values two
quick illustrations that come out of the
news relatively recently the first is a
story out of Rhode Island just this past
week a Supreme Court decision against
two Roman Catholic firefighters
they had appealed the decision by their
boss
to drive a fire truck as part of a gay
parade back I think in 2001.
the boss told them drive the truck
or you lose your job
the firefighters took it to court
in a unanimous decision five to nothing
the Supreme Court judges said that
driving a fire truck in a gay parade had
nothing to do with values of religion
other illustration
goes back to I believe of July of last
year a scientist by the name of Mark
Armitage
working at California State University
he was part of an archaeological dig
where they found one of the largest
intact horns of a particular variety of
dinosaurs
studying it under a microscope he
discovered an amazing thing
there were soft
tissue cells present
in the Horn of the dinosaur
scientifically that's not supposed to be
happening because these things
supposedly are millions of years old
right
so this guy is a Christian creationist
wrote a peer review article
outlining his findings and his
conclusions and guess what
gets fired from his job
for subscribing to a view of science
that is at odds
with the scientific community
don't ever think it's only religious
people who are intolerant just for the
record
all of society has its own values
and if you don't measure up to those
particular values
you're going to be ostracized
and so yes we may not be called
to have her heads chopped off just yet
for loyalty to Jesus but I'll tell you
the more Society moves into Direction
where it's going
the more you and I will be confronted by
situations where it will be increasingly
difficult to hold on to Christian values
without being marginalized in society
that is also persecution
the question then is
how do we respond
remember last week we looked to the
first of
we looked at the first two of three
questions that we want to try to answer
in this little mini-series on religious
persecution the first question is why
are Christians particularly the subject
of persecution the second question is
what is the mechanism that drives that
and we talked about all of that last
week it's online or you can get it on
DVD if you weren't there worth your
while I think to listen to this morning
we come to the third question
and that is what should our response be
in view of the kind of persecution that
scripture says sooner or later all of
God's people who live Godly lives will
experience and that's why we read these
verses from Peter because in these
verses from Peter we find a five volt
five-fold uh
prescription
on how to deal with a subject of
religious persecution we won't have time
to deal with all of them this morning
but let's see how far we can get
prescription number one says Peter
don't be
surprised
verse 12 dear friends
do not be surprised at the painful trial
you are suffering as though something
strange
were happening to you
I can be brief about this we've talked
about it before it's very important to
understand from a Biblical point of view
that persecution is part and parcel of
living the Christian Life in the world
Paul puts it this way 1 Thessalonians 3
3 let no one be moved by these
afflictions you yourselves know that
this is to be our lot this he says is to
be our lot and the reason for that's not
hard to figure out
because there are two value systems in
the world one is the kingdom of God
characterized by faith hope and love God
is at the center everything bows to his
authority the other value system is Out
Of The World God is alienated from us
and we from him Satan is the God of this
world we are selfish through and through
and the values of the world are the
pride of life the lust of the eyes and
the lust of the Flesh in other words in
the kingdom of God God stands at the
center in the Kingdom of the world it's
all about me we talked last week about
kayan's reaction to his offering being
rejected by God his response besides
killing Abel was to build a city and to
name it after his son it's all about who
I am it's all about my legacy I am
ultimately God and when the you know
when the son of lawlessness the
Antichrist appears that the the end of
History that's going to be the full
summation of that lie that somehow or
another we are the ultimate source of
authority we are the ultimate source of
wisdom we are at the center of the
universe
now to the degree
I'll say it again
let's put those back up for just a
moment to the degree
to which we
embrace the values of the kingdom of God
to the degree of the world around us
Embraces the values of the kingdom of
the world there will always be a Clash
and the only reason why in the Western
World we're not having our heads cut off
we're still free to go to church we're
still free to practice our faith in God
in ways that we see fit
is because of our Judea Christian
Heritage
and the more that is being shunted aside
the more we will see arise in
persecution and the more you and I are
confronted by the choice of what does
following Jesus look like
and I'll give you one very practical
example before we move on from this
you're familiar I trust
with the fact that the liberal
provincial government
is planning to implement in the fall of
this year this revised sex ed program
you've heard about that
they tried it back in 2010
under the McGinty government
so many Christians rose up in protest
against it that it got diverted
but it was the brainchild of now premier
Kathleen Nguyen
they are in the process of revising it
and they are doing that in consultation
with the public supposedly
but what they mean by consultation with
the public is one person from each of
the four thousand schools in the
province of Ontario are being given
permission to comment on this program
the rest is Secret
but if it's anything like
what was being suggested and I strongly
suspect that it will be
it will raise a bit of a problem for
some Christian parents and for some
Christian teachers
because do you want your child in grade
three
taught the gender is a social construct
you know what that means
that means gender is not determined by
whether you're a boy or whether you're a
girl
it's determined by what you choose it to
be one of maybe as many as 12 gender
identities
grade three do you want your child
taught that homosexuality in same-sex
as heterosexual heterosexuality or
heterosexual marriages that's where it's
going I can guarantee you that
I'd be greatly surprised if it isn't
because that's where Society is at
and do you want your child taunt in
grade three
that
there are multiple forms of families all
of which are equally valid and equally
natural
from single parent to two parents to
three parents to say do you want your
kids taught
those kind of values in grade three come
the fall
if you're a teacher a Christian teacher
and some of you are
what are you going to do when you are
required to teach that kind of
curriculum what kind of spinning do you
see where this is going in society
Christians are being marginalized
because particularly in this whole
sexual Revolution that we are part of
today Christians either end up going
along with a flaw
and everybody will love you or you stand
against the flaw and there's a good
chance that you'll use your job or lose
your job you'll get hold before a Human
Rights Commission and if nothing else
you'll be written off as a bigot who
doesn't enjoy sex
and as a hung up prude of a religious
person because you don't fit into the
model of society today
it's already happening
all you have to do is read the comments
the articles that appear online about
and you will be shocked
at the antagonism that is being
expressed
to Christians even today the Bible says
don't be surprised it's to be your law
doesn't mean you have to go looking for
it but you better expect it because if
you don't expect it you're going to be
blown out of the water because you're
surprised at how people treat you so
number one don't be surprised Peter goes
on
because he knows how we think
secondly he says
learn to rejoice
in the persecution
learn to Rejoice verse 13 Rejoice that
you participate in the sufferings of
Christ so that you may be overjoyed when
his glory
is revealed now if there is anything in
Scripture that is counter-intuitive
it's that one
I can tell you that from personal
experience having I think experienced a
tent of persecution in my own life in
Ministry I have not learned how to
rejoice
and I suspect you're not much better at
it than I am
but it's a theme that runs
throughout scripture
because
listen to you know these verses James
1 2 consider it pure
Joy say it with me consider it pure joy
my brothers whenever you face Trials of
many kinds Paul now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake
and then just because you may think that
James and Paul are a little extreme
listen to what
sweet and Mild Jesus has to say about it
in The Sermon on the Mount
blessed are you when people insult you
persecute you and falsely say all kinds
of evils against you because of me
rejoice and be glad because great is
your reward in heaven for in the same
way that persecuted the prophets who
were before you
rejoice and be glad
rejoice
when you're threatened with a loss of a
job
rejoice
when your spouse turns against you
because you won't share
in
his or her particular agenda
rejoice
when you're ostracized on the job
because you're not part of the gossip
Beyond
rejoice
when everybody thinks you're not set a
prude because you don't want to go along
with a revised sex education program
rejoice
when you watch your kids being
slaughtered in front of you
pushing it a little don't you think
you see how far we have to go
so how in the world can you rejoice when
you're confronted by that kind of
persecution and remember what we go
through is nothing compared to people
who have to give up their lives if you
want to read
I don't know if I I you know I'd almost
call it depressing but if you want to
read a book about that it's it's a book
called the insanity of God
and that's written by a guy who has
traveled
throughout the persecuted nations of the
world to try to find out how in the
world do people survive this kind of
persecution and it's an eye-opener I
tell you because the choices that people
are confronted by sometimes are just
incredible
I mean
you know Jesus says in Matthew 24
concerning the last days if the Lord
didn't shorten those days not even the
elect could be saved that's how nasty it
gets when the devil really gets going
don't ever underestimate it
why rejoice
well two reasons
number one
it means your faith
is real
it means you have crossed over from the
kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of
Light listen to how Jesus puts it in
John 15 19 to his disciples if you
belong to the world it would love you as
its own
as it is you do not belong to the world
but I have chosen you out of the world
that is why the world hates you let me
put it in this context once again two
value systems you will recall values of
the world values of the Kingdom by
Nature you and I are all part of this
value system and that is why to the
degree to which we are part of that
value system we don't bother Anybody
Everybody Loves Us
but you come to Christ
and you start living by the spirit
increasingly for this value system
they're going to do to you what they did
to Jesus what do they do to Jesus
they put them on a cross why did they
put him on a cross
there was nobody more kind more gracious
more loving more truthful than Jesus but
they put him to death why because they
got under people's skin that's why
his light exposed the darkness his love
for God his honesty for truth his
passion for the Lost expose the
hypocrisy in people's hearts he went out
of his way sometimes I might add to
bring that out of the open
but they killed him on account of that
now if you get persecuted for
righteousness sake not for your own
stupidity we'll talk about that in a
moment
then you have cause to rejoice
because if you ever had a question about
whether you're a Christian or not that's
proof positive
rejoice
because this is what they did to the
prophets of old
you're in the same category as the
prophets most of whom were killed and
destroyed by their contemporaries
because they were the voice of God
speaking into the confusion of their day
and age that's reason number one it's
proof that you're on the right side of
the equation number two great will be
your reward
great will be your reward Peter puts it
this way in verse 13 rejoice
that you participate in the sufferings
of Christ
so that you may be overjoyed when his
put it this way again
what was Jesus's reward for being
faithful to the father
he was raised from the dead
ascended into heaven sat down on the
right hand of God and received
the name
get this I mean we hear it all the time
but we don't get it
everything the world is fighting for all
the time to get which is happiness and
joy and prosperity and sufficiency and
purpose and meaning Jesus got it all at
the right hand of the father without
Ever Lifting a finger to fight for it
why
because the kingdom is not given to
those who fight for it it's given to
those who are in right relationship with
God the Father
and you and I when we're joined to Jesus
we share in his inheritance we are
co-heirs with him
so why rejoice when all hell is breaking
loose
because this world is not going to last
indefinitely you know that don't you
this world is going to yield one day to
the coming of God's kingdom with glory
and honor and power and those who have
sided with Jesus today
are going to be honored with Jesus in
The Glory that is to come
we're going to sit with him on Thrones
whatever that looks like God only knows
what it looks like Paul saw it
experienced it couldn't put it into
words because it was such Glory
we get to share
in the glory of God
and that's why Jesus says in this verse
in Matthew
rejoice and be glad because great is
your reward in heaven for in the same
way they've persecuted the prophets
who were before him
why rejoice in suffering persecution
because it shows that you belong to
Jesus
and when you belong to Jesus when he
comes into his kingdom
you get to join
in the glory and the honor
that is going to be piled on the
children of God in the age to come and
this sounds simplistic I know
and it's small Comfort when you and I
are in the middle of a lot of pain
but really a hundred years from now
will it matter that your wife was mad at
you because you wanted to follow Jesus
will it matter that you lost your job
or that you got your head chopped off
or that this life was difficult because
you try to be faithful to Jesus
frankly it won't matter at all because
as Paul says the shortened momentary
sufferings of this age
are preparing for us a weight of Glory
that is going to be revealed to us
on that final day
but do you understand with me
the changes
that Jesus has to work in our hearts
to even get us to thinking in those
terms I mean here's a verse from from
the book of Hebrews that I've often
pondered and it shows you how far we
have to go in terms of getting a
Biblical view on the reality of life
this is in the context of the Hebrew
Christians who are suffering persecution
they haven't even lost their lives yet
but the writer to the Hebrew says you
sympathized with those in prison and
then this next phrase just always blows
me out of the water you joyfully
accepted the confiscation of your
property because you knew that you
yourselves had a better and a lasting
possession isn't that something
Oh Glory Hallelujah I just had my house
burned down
Glory Hallelujah I just lost my job can
make my mortgage payments they just lost
my whole family isn't it wonderful
but you see if the spirit of Christ
lives in you
then you don't have to Rejoice because
these things are happening
but you can Rejoice because you have the
long-range vision
that you have an inheritance in heaven
that is undefiled imperishable unfading
that nobody but nobody can take away
from you
but you need the spirit of Jesus
to see that
so number one
don't be surprised
number two learn to rejoice in the
middle of it
and then number three
equally important
keep your nose clean
verse 15 if you suffer
it should not be as a murderer or Thief
or any other kind of criminal
or even
as a meddler
if you suffer it shouldn't be as a
murderer or a thief or other kind of
criminal
and because Paul or Peter knows church
people
not a meddler either don't be a busybody
don't be a gossip don't stick your nose
in other people's business
because you'll get yourself into trouble
see it's one thing to get into trouble
because we're committed to Jesus
and the offense is the Cross isn't that
that we need to rejoice in
but again see Peter knows his people
because he also knows that it's quite
another thing to get into trouble
because we're getting ourselves into
trouble
and for a lot of people historically
it's a little bit of oath isn't that
yes I get into trouble because of Jesus
and because of my witness to Jesus but I
also get into trouble because my mouth
is too big I make mistakes I say all the
wrong things I lose my temper and so now
people have something to latch on to me
and Peter says
keep your nose clean
because if you don't keep your nose
clean the forces of hell
will try to grab hold of the slightest
foothold in your life that they can lay
hold of and they will drive it
to the ground and you will be wordless
to defend yourself in that situation
because there is just enough truth to
there's just enough truth to the
accusation that you cannot legitimately
defend yourself or that other people can
come to your sport quick example
I told you last week about this church
in wenzhou that was torn down by the
Chinese government just at the end of
April last year when Zhao as I said last
week
city of about 7 million it's a port city
on the east coast of China Weber and I
had some marvelous meetings there
because it's known as the Jerusalem of
the East it's got 1500 churches about 15
percent of the city is committed to the
Lord Jesus Christ and part of the fruit
of that is because years and years ago
under the Chinese Cultural Revolution
everybody had to flee to the hills and a
lot of the leadership was persecuted and
destroyed
when that persecution lifted the
Christians drifted back blood
of Martyrs is often said to be the seed
of the church and the church in that
city has been growing phenomenally
and so these folks built this church
took them six years over three million
dollars
and they did so with the tacit approval
of the authorities in windjao
but one slight miscalculation
they had received permission to build a
20 000 square foot building
and in the process of building they got
carried away
and they ended up building structures
that encompassed the hundred thousand
little
you know how that goes add another foot
to the wall right well you had enough
feet to the wall and you you end up here
so
the authorities turned a blind eye to
that
and in fact they they lauded this church
building for a long time as sort of a a
model project everybody is proud of that
but then Along Comes somebody from
higher out
and he sees all these Church buildings
in the skyline of windshield with
crosses because they love putting these
crosses way up there so that they can
lift High the cross of Jesus
and he says to the governing authorities
uh did they break any codes
when they put this building up did did
you give them permission to do all of
this
well you know what happens saving faces
pretty important in most cultures
especially Chinese
and so what happened
oh no
so now the battle is on
how are we going to handle this
first they agreed well take down the
cross and we'll be happy that wasn't
good enough because the Christians
didn't want to take down the cross
then they said well get rid of two
stories on this auxiliary building that
you put up and then we'll be happy they
agreed to that but then the authorities
broke the word and they tore the whole
thing down
and that's where they find themselves
today my point obvious
keep your nose clean because if you
don't keep your nose clean if there's
anything that can be latched onto you
legitimately you lose the ability to
stand up and say no
other people cannot support you because
you've broken the law but you're given
ammunition to the devil
to try to bring you down and that is why
Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 when he
sends out his disciples he gives these
words of wisdom Matthew 10 verse 16 I
send you out a sheep in the midst of
wolves so be wise as serpents
and innocent
as doves
wise the serpents
innocent
as doves
what does it mean to be wise as a
serpent
well you don't go
poking the bear
you don't throw Pearl Before Swine
you don't step into situations to
provoke unless you really feel that you
are called as a prophet of God and
you're called to speak into a given
situation in those cases you have to
poke them here
but then you better be prepared to pay
with your life
because that's why they crucify Jesus he
poked the bear
because he wanted to bring out into the
open what was hidden in the hearts of
those Pharisees but it cost him
his life
we've all been
flabbergasted this past week I'm sure
by the massacre in Paris
with the two Shooters invading the
offices of Charlie Hebel or head hebdu
Charlie had
which is a satirical magazine that
specializes in making fun
of religious people religious movements
and
generally can a bunch of old hippies
back from the 60s that started that day
and I don't want you to misinterpret
what I'm saying what the shooters did
was wrong inexcusable and totally
inappropriate
but they did poke the bear
and you know that when you go
poking Muhammad and slandering his
reputation and portraying His Image all
of Islam Rises up against you now if you
feel that that's your job to do then you
do it but you better be prepared to pay
for it with your life
which is what these folks have had to do
doesn't excuse what anybody did
doesn't mean we can't have a lot of
sympathy for freedom of expression the
point is this if you don't want to die
don't poke the bear
if you're gonna poke the bear make sure
it's Jesus telling you to poke the bear
because you're going to need him
when the bear swats at you okay innocent
is doves
well you make sure there is nothing that
people can attach to you that gives
opportunity to censure you
Paul doesn't want to say about this so
he says I want you to be wise about what
is good
innocent
about what is evil
one Thessalonians 2 10 you are witnesses
and so is God of how holy righteous and
blameless we were among you who believed
and then he says in Romans 12 17 be
careful to do what is right
in the eyes of everybody
doesn't mean you have to be perfect
doesn't mean you can never make mistakes
but it does mean that the more God uses
you to shine light into somebody else's
life
the more they're going to examine your
life under a mirror
and if they can find something in you
some inconsistency in you some value
that they can hold on to in order to
diminish what it is that you're saying
they will do that and if it gets bad
enough you will be amazed at the anger
that comes from Deep places in people's
lives ready to crucify you because of
the convicting power of the Holy Spirit
and the anger of Satan
didn't get a chance to talk about this
last week relative to the story of Kahan
but why did Cain become a murderer
because he opened the door and to to
rejection
and anger and guess who enters when you
open the door to rejection into anger
the prince of anger who himself was
rejected by God for failing to submit to
God's Authority so hear me well if you
coddle rejection in your life
and do not repent of it and take it to
the Cross because you were accepted in
Jesus you sit there and you nurture this
the Devil comes along because he knows
exactly what rejection feels like he
will tell you a thousand excuses why you
are right and everybody else is wrong
and before you know it you've become a
murderer in your heart
because all you have to do is study
history to discover
how some very good noble people commit
some incredibly atrocious acts I
remember years back when Schindler's
List
came out remember Schindler's List
the story of you know the man who saved
a lot of Jews from going to the to the
gas Chambers
I remember one of the comments that
people made when the movie first came
out
was the fact that
the Nazi officials
who were sending thousands upon
thousands of Jews cold-bloodedly into
the gas Chambers to be murdered
who are pictured as these loving
husbands and fathers at home
and people said how in the world can you
square that because we always think the
bad people sport horns and Tails and
look demonic isn't that true
but you see
once the devil persuades you
that you're righteous
and everybody else is unrighteous
in the horror
of the grip of his power
I mean you've heard that story you know
in in what pressure are in in in
Pakistan where these what was it seven
terrorists invaded the school
you know how they killed it they lined
those kids up against the wall a whole
bunch of them
and then they just went back when went
around shot everyone in the back of
their head
dropped dead
I mean one or two
it's always amazing a bullet grazes
somebody they fall down they're not
really dead they survive
but talk about horror
see but then you ask yourself the
question how can people do what don't
you how inhuman can you be
fact of the matter is
when you're in the group of Satan's
wisdom
it makes perfectly good sense
and nobody is immune which is why the
Lord says to Cayenne back in that story
sin is couching at the door you've got
to resist it because if you don't resist
it it's going to take you out okay and
didn't want to take didn't want to
resist it it took him out
and the rest
is the foundation of what we call the
world the civilization that is built on
Rebellion on rejection
and on having to strive
in order to attain
when we're faced with persecution in
whatever form
number one we learn not to be surprised
because it's going to be our lot
number two learn to Rejoice because
God's up to something Jesus says when
you see these things happening lift up
your heads for you know that your
Redemption draws an eye
number three
keep your nose clean
and as I started to say doesn't mean you
have to be without sin but it means that
we're honest we walk with Integrity we
take responsibility we live
transparently and the rest we leave up
to God because we know that if God is
for us who can be against us that's
we're going to leave it for now next
time we'll come back to this one more
time Lord willing and we're going to
talk about the biggest battle that you
and I will face when stuff starts going
wrong and I can tell you what that is it
is fear
it is the fear of what's going to happen
to me if I step out into this and if I