REMEMBER THOSE WHO ARE BOUND

Part 2

 We must not forget those who suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 13:3 declares (The Contemporary English Version), “Remember the Lord’s people who are in jail and be concerned for them.  Don’t forget those who are suffering, but imagine that you are there with them.”

 Having SAID that, I want to talk to you briefly about the inevitability of persecution.

2 Timothy 3:12-13 warns, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 The persecution may came in various forms, but believe me, it will come. 

 The Apostle Peter likewise stated in I Peter 4:12-14, 16, 19:  "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suf­fering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be over­joyed when his glory is re­vealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you....  If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.’  ‘So then, those who suf­fer according to God's will should commit them­selves to their faithful Creator and con­tinue to do good.’”

 In summation, 2 Timothy 3:12 promises: “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Let’s briefly look at some of the reasons that persecution comes:

First from the Word of God

1.         For one reason, the servant is no greater than His master. Jesus suffered; the church suffers.

2.         Next, we have been called to participate in the sufferings of Christ. Notice these verses:

·        Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.”

·        The New Living Translation has this: “For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.”

·        Philippians 3:10 likewise notes: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death….”

 Suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ and the Gospel should not be considered something strange!  It simply goes with the territory!  May I remind you, the writer of these very passages was eventually beheaded for the cause of Jesus Christ.  

 A number of years ago someone these words in a song:

It’s dripping with blood,

Yes, it’s dripping with blood.

This Holy Ghost Gospel, is dripping with blood.

The blood of the martyrs, and the crucified one.

This Holy Ghost Gospel is dripping with blood.

3.            Persecution can bring glory to Christ.

1 Peter 1:7 “These [all kinds of trials] have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

 4.         This same passage notes that persecution can result in a life of purity.

Hebrews 5:8 tells us that Jesus, “Although he was a son, learned obedience from what he suffered.”

 5.              Such troubles can also lead to spiritual maturity.

James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

 6.              Encourages the spread of the Gospel.

Philippians 1:12-14 shares: “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”

 Acts 8:1,4 also notes that “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

The church was at ease in Jerusalem until persecution broke out. Then the church moved out in obedience to the Lord’s Great Commission and multitudes came to Christ. I have wondered at times, will it take a wave of persecution in America to wake the church up and get it to go and tell?

I want us to now look at two additional reasons for persecution against the church.

1.            Christianity has never flourished very long as a popu­lar (and accepted) way of life.  One reason for this is captured in a list that I put together of what is in and what is out in both the world and the church.  I think you will readily see the tremendous contrast: (OHT) 

WORLD                                                         CHURCH    

Abortion                                                           Babies

Homosexuality                                              Heterosexuality

Violence                                                        Love and respect for one another

Drugs                                                             A sound mind

Get                                                                 Give

Greed                                                            Contentment

4 letter words                                                 A five letter word - Jesus

New Age                                                         The old old story

Safe sex                                                          Morality/Fidelity

Rock and Roll                                                  Rock of Ages

Alcohol                                                              Being filled with the Holy Spirit

Worshipping self                                             Worshipping God

Religion                                                            Relationship

Happiness                                                       Joy

Instant gratification                                          Waiting on the Lord

Clinton, Hillary and Gore                                 Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

 Obviously, such a church and such a world have little in common!  They are two powerful but opposite forces, mutually antagonistic, and constantly moving on a collision course toward each other with increasing momentum.

I believe there is the ongoing possibility that this conflict between: 

·        morality and immorality,

·        righteousness and ungodliness,

·        truth and error, may escalate until we too in America are ushered into a new age of persecution!  The church serves as the world's conscience.  Evil and wicked people WANT THAT CONSCIENCE STILLED! 

 Already:

·        our values are scoffed at,

·        our preachers are mocked,

·        and our Christ is portrayed on screen in blasphemous compromise!

Charles Colson has gone on record as having said: “A showdown between church and state may be inevitable.  This is not something for which Christians should hope.  But it is something for which they should prepare.”

·        Please consider the hostile manner in which many city and county zoning boards now regularly rule against churches.

·        Remember the brutal way in which abortion protesters were treated.  Contrast that with the way ACT UP is treated. 

·        What about the recent movies and songs that slam Christianity and our Lord?

·        One court after another is requiring cities to remove anything and everything from public property that has to do with Christianity.

·        Look at how Christianity is treated on school campuses today.

·        A while back, six Christians were burned to death in Indonesia.  Did you hear about it from Peter Jennings or on CNN?  Did you read about it in the newspaper?  Of course not. They were just Christians. Who cares?

In China, underground Christians report brutal beatings that have resulted in paralysis, coma, and even death in some cases. Other methods of torture reported include binding detainees in excruciating positions, hanging detainees from their limbs, tormenting them with electric cattle prods, electric drills and other implements, and crushing the feet and ankles of Christians while they are forced to kneel. In some cases, the torture is applied to be witnessed by relatives, which itself is a form of psychological torture.

It is reported there, “if a murderer and a pastor escape that it is more important to catch the pastor."

The world hated Jesus; the world simply hates His church!

Let me give you another reason for persecution. I don’t remember where I got this, but I want to read it to you nonetheless. It deals with the issue of intolerance.  “Any Christian, Christian Organization, or Group who voices an opinion about religion, social morality, government, and education and puts this in writing and posts the same on the internet is now considered *intolerant* and to have committed a crime! This alleged *intolerance* is now becoming a crime against humanity and Christians are the main target of this new antichrist devise.  Actually when the accusation of *intolerance* is used against Christians it is a tool of hate and intolerance itself disguised by those who have long hated Jesus and Christianity, they have just found a new way of doing it with public and government sanction, ...like the crucifixion! This is persecution clear and simple.  Others can have an opinion against Jesus and Christians but Christians are being censored and their voices silenced about our own opinions even of those who speak against us?”

Simply put, The tide is turning.  Hell is about to vomit up an intense hatred toward the:

·        saint on the job,

·        preacher in the pulpit,

·        church on the corner and

·        the Christian student in the classroom.

People get ready!  The church in China already thinks that it is in the Great Tribulation.  How much longer will godless America be spared???

Someone once observed that while we PROSECUTE AS CRIMINALS those who fall below societies standards, we PERSE­CUTE those who rise above them!  They did this with Jesus; they are doing it now to His church!  We should not be surprised for Jesus said that the servant is no greater than His Master.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

·        Be informed and pray constantly.

·        Make contacts within the persecuted church.

·        Publicize the plight of the persecuted church. Write your local newspaper or favorite newsmagazine.

·        Pressure the U.S. government to take action.

·        Include the entire church, not just the church in America, in your definition of the body of Christ.

·        Take action to rescue the persecuted. - Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”

·        Pray for the persecuted. - Acts 12:5, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him”.

·        Show as much concern for the persecuted as for those in your own local church. - 1 Corinthians 12:25-26, “So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

The fact that persecution elsewhere is ignored here ought to send cold chills up and down our spine!  The truth is, the world does not care about Christians dying at the hands of tyrants and despots!  They don’t care if it happens over there, and they really don’t care if the church suffers persecution here.

ARE WE TO FEAR DUE TO PERSECUTION?

J. B. Phillips translated Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never despair.  We are persecuted, but we never have to stand it alone: we may be knocked down, but we are never knocked out!”

Romans 8:35-39 adds, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

As I conclude, I want to share with you a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was speaking at the funeral of some children who had been killed by a bomb as they attended Sunday school at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.  “I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity’s affirmation that death is not the end.  Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance.  Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal.  Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.”  

The saints die well for they believe with everything that is in them that death is not the end.  Of a truth, we who are saved know that “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”