The Priviledge of Persecution

Our Christian brothers and sisters in the 1st century had a very different perspective on persecution than we 21st century western Christians. For them it was a privilege (see Acts 5:41; Philippians 1:29), for us it is something to be avoided, almost at all costs. But can it be avoided? If Jesus and the apostles are any measure, it cannot. The scriptures clearly attest that persecution follows proclamation.

Why is this so? The message of the Kingdom of God runs smack up against the prevailing powers of the kingdom of this world making conflict inevitable. And because the gospel offers a stern critique of the nature of human beings and the works we produce, when a person embraces the gospel as true it necessarily aligns that one with that assessment, provoking persecution. The demand to the believer in the face of this inevitable enmity, notes Glenn Penner, the late director of Voice of the Martyrs, Canada, “is not so much a willingness to die for Christ but a readiness to die due to one’s unconditional obedience to the Crucified One.” If persecution is part and parcel with proclaiming and living the gospel, we must accept that we are “destined for this” and “not be moved by these afflictions” (1 Thessalonians 3:3).

But suffering for the sake of Christ is not an end in itself. Jesus spoke of his redemptive suffering when he taught, ““The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23-24). Each disciple of Jesus is a product of the redeeming death to which he alludes. For this we are grateful. The startling news, however, is that he also envisions our own sacrificial fruit bearing when he explains, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (v. 25). Our participation in the redeeming work of Christ through suffering for the sake of his name, has a redemptive purpose, not for ourselves but for others.

The power of the followers of Jesus united in the face of persecution offers a much needed testimony to the truth of the gospel. Ed Clowney notes: "“The very threats to the existence of the church in the twenty-first century show again our need of the church. The courage to stand apart, to be unashamed of Christ’s claims, is nurtured in the community of those who are baptized into his name. The church may not apply for a union card in a pluralistic establishment by signing away its right to proclaim the only Saviour of the world. Together we must make clear that it is to Christ and not to ourselves that we witness. In that witness we are not only individual points of light in the world, but a city set on a hill. In the ethnic hostility that ravages Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the church must show the bond of Christ’s love that unites former enemies as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Only so can the church be a sign of his kingdom: the kingdom that will come when Christ comes, and that is already present through his Spirit” (The Church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995. 15-16).

As our Savior was persecuted because he stood against the prevailing selfishness and cruelty of a sin-racked, idolatrous world, so will his church. Persecution is something to which we have been called and for which we must give thanks. 

Invitation to Grow

Koinonia, a Greek word that has rich meaning for the Christian. It stands for the reality that in Christ believers, bound together by our faith in Jesus, are called to mutual participation and identification with other believers. As N. T. Wright instructs: “The idea that we need to grasp . . . is that, in Christ, Christians not only belong to one another but actually become mutually identified, truly rejoicing with the happy and genuinely weeping with the sad . . . Koinonia is part of the truth about the body of Christ. All are bound together in a mutual bond that makes our much-prized individualism look shallow and petty.”

In theory, koinonia is noble. In practice, it is difficult. Followers of Jesus are brought into the body of Christ by the electing grace of God. As a result, we find ourselves in fellowship with people that we might not normally gravitate towards, and once in relationship we are called to maintain that relationship, sometimes at great cost. But if we are willing to pay the price, there is great reward.

This is what Paul was assuring Philemon when he asked him to receive back into his household Onesimus, his runaway slave, newly converted. Paul knew that this would be challenging for Philemon. But if his friend would fully embrace the implications of koinonia he would grow to understand in a deeper way what it means to be in fellowship with Christ and Christ’s people. Wright’s paraphrase of Philemon 6 is to the point, “I am praying that the mutual participation, which is proper to the Christian faith you hold, may have its full effect in your realization of every good thing that God wants to accomplish in us to lead us into the fullness of Christian fellowship, that is, of Christ.”

So, those folks with whom you worship each Sunday, you are bound to them in Christ. You are called, therefore, to koinonia, mutually identifying and participating in life with them for they, too, have been reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. In humility, work out your differences; in generosity, rejoice when they rejoice; with empathy, join them in their sorrow; in love for Christ, serve beside them in his kingdom. In this way we will all mature, until we “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

"Can we all get along?"

“Can we all get along?” This was the plaint of Rodney King in 1992 in the riot torn city of Los Angeles after violence broke out in the wake of what most perceived to be an unjust verdict that acquitted the officers who were caught on videotape beating him. An already strained relationship between the LA police and the black community reached a breaking point with devastating results: 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, and over $1,000,000,000 in damages; a terrifying and troubling example of sin’s disruptive power.

The truth is we can’t all get along. Fractures in even the strongest of relationships seem inevitable. Peace between people takes work. Recently at Neighborhood Church, we considered two of the resources the gospel provides in that effort:  unity and forgiveness. By unity is meant our commonality as human beings. We are all made in the image of God. This means that we are not free to regard others in a manner any different than how we would want to be regarded. We are all made in the image of God, yet we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all in need, therefore, of the redemptive and reconciling work of Christ. That’s true whether you are the slave owner, Philemon, or the slave, Onesimus (we’ve been looking at Paul’s letter to Philemon on Sundays). For those in Christ, our commonality is deepened for we all have him as our head and all drink from the symbolic one cup. Embracing our commonality goes a long way in undermining presumed superiority while instilling humility, two important ingredients for removing enmity between people.

The necessity and ability to forgive flows from the fact that through the reconciling work of Christ we have been “delivered . . . from the domain of darkness and transferred . . . to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). The expectation is that as the Lord has forgiven us, we will also forgive; as we know the blessing of being forgiven, out of love we must grant it to others (Colossians 3:13). The contrast of reactions between the father and the older brother in the familiar parable of the prodigal son reveals the kind of heart Jesus wants us to have: ready to forgive when repentance is proffered.

I suspect each of us can think of a person who presents a challenge along these lines. We should make that one a project: praying for him or her to come to an understanding of how he or she has offended, while at the same time asking God for a heart that is desirous to lovingly pronounce forgiveness when the Lord answers our prayers for the other.

The Church

I spoke of the Church, with a capital C, this past Sunday. It was one of our joint services and it seemed a good time to speak of the entity with which, by God’s grace, we are identified. We considered the Church under four headings. The Church is one; the Church is universal; the Church is apostolic; and the Church is holy. 

All who confess Christ, no matter their age, gender, language, or culture, are one in Christ. This promises the real possibility of peace between peoples no matter how deeply the warring parties have been offended. All who come, from whatever tongue, tribe, or nation, partake of the life that flows from our one common source, Jesus Christ, the head of the Church.

This leads us to the next heading: the Church is universal. The fact that God intends to draw people from every nation opens up the worldwide missionary enterprise. The Church represents the most diverse collection of people of any other religion or belief system. This is because the gospel transcends cultures and tongues and gathers in peoples from across the spectrum of human expression. Contrary to the common perception that the Church is a Eurocentric entity, the most vibrant center of Church life currently is found in Africa and Asia.

The Church is also apostolic. The Church is defined by the faith proclaimed by the apostles and preserved for us in the Scriptures (Cf., Ephesians 2:20). When the Church abandons the Scriptures it abandons its message and, therefore, its reason for existence. We were sent by Jesus to bear witness to him and if we don’t believe what has been said about him we have nothing to proclaim.

Lastly, the Church is holy. It is a unique entity that has been brought into existence by a holy God to be holy unto him. The gospel is not one path among many to God nor is it merely another form of therapy. The gospel calls people to faith and repentance in Christ alone. We must resist every attempt of unbelieving critics to fold Christianity into the deck of world religions. The Church has been set apart by the grace of God to bring glory to his name and to carry out his mission on the earth.

The culture around us works hard at marginalizing the Church, painting it to be bigoted, oppressive, and a threat to an open, pluralistic society. As a result, we are often hesitant to openly identify with the Church. Truth be told, the people around us need the Church for it is the repository of the gospel, the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). They need us to be faithful to and unashamed of the Church and its mission.