Rick Warren - What to Do When People Criticize Your Faith

If I asked you to name the most persecuted group

on the planet, you'd probably name the wrong group because

it's Christians.

It's Christians.

It may surprise you that that's the most persecuted group

on the planet because it is the most ignored, most unnoticed,

least reported, most overlooked news item on the planet. Without

a doubt, the International Society of let me get this right,

International Society for Human Rights. It's a secular organization. It's

not a Christian organization. Just recently let out a report

and it says, quote, eighty percent of all religious freedom

violations in the world today are directed against Christians. Now,

we're all aware that throughout history, for two thousand years, Christianity,

the Christian Church, and Christians in particular, have been persecuted.

We all know that for three hundred years it was

illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. They

were feeding Christians to the lions, Nero was tarring them

and lighting them on fire, and for three hundred years,

first hundred years years of the Church, it was against

the law to be a Christian.

We know about the.

Different cleansings throughout history, and the tortures and the burning

at the stake and all of those kind of things

for two thousand years. But what we don't know, what

you don't know, is that the worst persecution of Christians

in all of history is happening in our lifetime. It's

just not being reported now. Since the Resurrection two thousand

years ago, about seventy million believers in Jesus Christ have

died for their faith. About seventy million is shocking. And

what most people don't know is half of that number,

thirty five million, have died in the last one hundred years.

Right now.

This past year, about one hundred million followers of Christ

lived in countries. Whether the state or the prevailing religion

or the dictatorship left one hundred million followers of Jesus

facing the threat of discrimination, of persecution, of interrogation, of arrest,

of imprisonment, of torture, of even death. There used to be,

for instance, about one point three million Christians in Iraq.

That was about how many there were when the First

Gulf War broke out. Today there's less than one hundred

thousand in the nation of Iraq. The most current estimates

in South North Korea is that they're probably about seventy

thousand Christians in prison in North kore right now, suffering

in prison, and about every ten minutes, two Christians die

for their faith around the world, hour upon hour upon

hour upon day, upon week upon month, two every ten minutes.

For the last decade, You've never heard that. No one

is reporting it. It is the most underreported story on

the planet. Now, what are we supposed to do about

our persecuted brothers and sisters in christ These millions and

hundreds of thousands in refugee camps and displaced and having

to move to other nations and things like that.

What are we supposed to do? Well? The first thing

we're supposed to do is be informed.

And I want to because I'm not going to talk

about this a lot today.

I highly recommend this.

Book, The Global War on Christians, and I actually ordered

several thousand of them to be out on the patio.

I would encourage you to read this book and be

in the note because nobody's going to tell you this.

They're not going to tell you the national reports that

are coming out of all these different organizations. Second, we

need to pray. The Bible says we are to pray

for those who are persecuted. Third, we need to give

to help support families who have loved ones in prison,

or are being tortured, or have died because of their faith.

We can give, we can pray, we can learn, and

we can be advocates for freedom. Let me show your

verse on the Bible. The Bible says this here on

the screen Hebrews thirteen three. Remember those who are in

prison as if you were in prison with them. Remember

those who are suffering, as if you were suffering with them.

That's what God tells us to do.

Now.

Anybody who thinks that following Jesus Christ, being a follower

of Christ is easy, is sadly mistaken.

Sadly mistaken.

Being a Christian, being a follower of Christ is not

for whimps, for weaklings. It's not for the faint of heart.

It's not for cowards. You must be willing to face rejection.

You must be willing to face criticism. You must be

willing to face disapproval. You must be willing to face

peer pressure. You must be willing to face harassments and opposition.

If you truly live for Christ. Now, the Bible says this,

look on the top of your outlots two Timothy three,

Verse twelve. Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and wance

to live right will have trouble from others circle the

word will. This is not an if, this is not

a mite. This is a guarantee. The Bible says, it

is guaranteed that if you stand for what's right, there

will be people who oppose you. If you stand for

what's true, there will be people who oppose you. If

you stand for what's good, evil will simply oppose you.

Now today we come to the last of the eight Beatitudes,

looking at these eight Blessings of Jesus, where Jesus says,

if you want to be blessed by God, here's what

you need to do in your life. And we've looked

at humility, and we've looked at generosity, and we've looked

at integrity. We've looked at how to reconcile a relationship

being a peacemaker. And in the last of the eight Beatitudes,

where Jesus says, if you want God's blessing on your life,

he deals with this issue of opposition, of harassment for

your faith, of persecution, and we're going to look at

what to do with it today. Now we're going to

look at how to handle opposition to your faith. And

we're going to look at two things. What do you

need to remember when you're feeling pressured peer pressure? And

what do you need to do when you're feeling peer pressure,

when you're feeling harassed or put down or ridiculed or

maligned or criticized or whatever for your faith?

What do you need to do? Now, let me just

be real honest.

In America, you're not being persecuted, you're not, but you

are being pressured, and there is subtle pressure to conform

and to be like everybody else in America. You're not

gonna face violent oppression, You're just not going to, at

least not in the foreseeable future. But you are going

to face not violent oppression, but silent repression. And this

is the subtle thing for you to just shut up

and keep your mouth shut and not say what's true,

and not stand up for Christ and not be a

public witness, and to just blend in and to fit in.

And the pressure to conform you feel it all the time.

I could give you a thousand ways that you do this.

When a boss pressures you to do something that you

know is dishonest or unethical and you don't want to

do it. There's the pressure to conform when people are

standing around the water cooler and they're all telling dirty

jokes and you know, I really shouldn't be participating in this,

and the pressures to stay there, to smile and smirk

and laugh and not walk away. You will invite it

to some events you just can't go to as a Christian,

a single guys, there are some bachelor parties you can't

go to.

In fact, nobody should go to them, and you know it.

And yet if you say I'm not going and say

why because I'm a Christian, you will be put down.

You will be harassed.

You will say, oh, you're out of date, or you're

no fun, or you're a fuddy duddy, or you have

no freedom, and all of these there's enormous pressure on

you to do that. You will feel pressure to be

silent when people are praising moral choices that the Bible

says is wrong, and they go, what, you don't think

that's okay. You don't think that's okay. You don't think

that's okay, And you don't think that over there is okay.

What's wrong with you? You're on the wrong side of history.

Let me just tell you something. History is often wrong.

You remember Hitler, New York Times and other magazines actually

praised him in the thirties. History is often wrong. It's

not important to be on the right side of history.

It's important to be on the right side. It's important

not to be popular. It's important to stand with the truth.

So you'll be pressured to be quiet. You'll be pressured

when you're standing around and somebody says, you know, all

Christians they just and they make.

A derogatory remark.

They're all bigots, they're all this or this or that,

and you will have the pressure to stay quiet.

That is harassment for your faith. Now what should you do.

Well, there are some things you need to do in

this some things you need to remember. First, let's look

at three things you need to remember. Write these down

when you feel pressured for your faith because you love

Jesus and other people don't.

The first thing you need to remember is this opposition

can make me more like Jesus. That's a good thing.

Opposition can actually make me more like Jesus. And it

makes me more like Jesus because Jesus experienced opposition. He

experienced it in great quantities. Obviously. The Bible says in

John fifteen, verse eighteen to twenty. When the world hates you,

remember that it hated me first. The world would love

you if you belong to it, but you don't. Jesus says,

I chose you out of this world. That's why this

world will hate you. No servant is ever greater than

his master. So since they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

Now follow me on this.

If you're going to grow up and be like Jesus Christ,

God wants you to become like him and the way

you think and act and feel, then you're gonna have

to go through everything Jesus went through.

Were there times when Jesus was lonely? Yes? Where there

times when Jesus was tempted to be discouraged? Yes? Were

there times he was fatigued and worn out? Yes? Were

there times when Jesus was tempted? Yes?

Were the times he was maligned, criticized, and lied about?

Yes?

What makes you think God would spare you when he

didn't spare his own son Of those things? You're gonna

go through the exact same thing as I said. Christianity

following Jesus is not for weaklings, it's not for whims,

it's not for fuddy dudies. And people who don't have

any backbone don't have any spine. And Jesus said, if

they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Remember, Jesus was

hated by many people. He was loved by sinners, but

he was hated by people.

Who didn't like goodness.

One of the greatest joys of my day is reading

letters from our listeners. It truly is inspiring to see

how God has worked in your lives, and it encourages

me just as much as I hope to encourage you.

So today I want to share a note from Heather,

who has been discovering the incredible benefits of studying God's

word every day. Heather wrote to me, she said, Hi,

Pastor Rick, a friend of mine recently sent me your

podcast and I've been feeling lost and helpless and I

didn't I wasn't sure what to pray, or how to pray,

or when to pray. And it's like I hit a

wall and I haven't been sure how to get back

on track. Well, your message really spoke truth to me,

and it made me realize the missing pieces I had

in my life because I was not in God's Word daily.

I was basically living my life without God and I

was trying to do everything on my own. Well, Pastor Rick,

it goes without saying that doing life without God has

been miserable failure. So thank you for stirring the Holy

Spirit in my heart with the words that I needed

to hear. I have now made the commitment to read

God's Word every day and to pray daily, and I

even started praying in the cars I go about my day.

Just like you, it's hard for me to close my

eyes and not fall asleep. You were listening. Please keep

doing what you're doing and reaching people who really need

to hear about Jesus and God's love. Well, Heather, I

am so glad to hear that you're back in God's

word and that you're making it a part of your

daily life. There really isn't anything more important than deepening

your relationship with Him, and I love the fact that

you are praying every day, especially keeping your eyes open

while you're driving. Do you or somebody know or even

feel lost yourself like Heather once did? Well, the best

way to find hope and strength is by staying connected

to God every day.

That's the purpose of.

Daily Hope and that's why I started it, to help

people like Heather dive into God's Word and experience his

encouragement on a daily basis. Now, our Daily Hope devotionals

and our podcasts are completely free and they're delivered straight

to your inbox every morning. So if you're not getting these,

sign up today and start each day with biblical wisdom

and encouragement from God's Word.

Hey, would you like to sign up for Pastor Rick's

email devotional You can just scan the QR code or

go to dailyhopetv dot com.

Jesus was hated by many people. He was loved by sinners,

but he was hated by people who didn't like goodness.

Evil always hates goodness, and the Bible says this on

the screen John three nineteen. The light from Heaven came

into the world.

That's Jesus. He said, I am the light of the world.

But people love their darkness more than light because it

hides their evil action. You know, if I've been sitting

in the dark for ten hours and you come in

and you turn on a big spotlight on me.

That's not comfortable. That's very uncomfortable.

When you've been living in the dark all your life

and somebody comes and turns on the light. Guess what,

It doesn't feel good at first, and on second thought,

you see what a mess room is. Jesus said, I'm

the light of the world, and he said this, you're

the light of the world. It's still true today, he said,

people still love darkness more than the light. You know,

you may have never thought about this, but it may

shock you to realize that if Jesus came and walked

on the earth today, we'd crucify him today. Our culture

would crucify Jesus today. We're no different than any other culture. Why,

because darkness can't stand light and evil can't stand goodness. Now,

what that means is this, even if you were perfect,

there are people who aren't going to like you. Some

of you have this myth in your mind. If I'm

just more wins, if I'm just more likable, if I'm

just more perfect, then everybody you'll love me. Jesus was

perfect and people hated him. So you're never going to

get to the point where everybody loves you and likes you.

That's just not going to happen.

The other thing we learned from this verse is that

opposition means that you're doing something right. You're obviously being

like Jesus in that moment, and he said, if they

didn't like me, then they're not going to like you.

The Bible says, this is one Peter four fourteen. If

you're abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate.

Why? He says, it's the spirit of God.

In you and His glory in you that brought you

to the notice of others. So you say, when you're criticized,

when you're judged, when you're ridiculed, when you're slighted, He's going, congratulations,

consider to confirmation and a compliment. If nobody has ever

criticized you for your faith, what is that saying about

your faith?

You don't have.

Any If being like Christ, the Bible says over and

over will bring criticism. If you're never criticized, I should

ask myself, then, how much like Christ?

Am I? What's wrong with me? Why is nobody noticing

my faith?

I don't know if you've noticed this, but the more

positive you are, the more negative people dislike you. And

if you get up in the morning and you're really positive.

If somebody wakes up in their grumpy they don't want

you to be positive. They want you to be negative too,

and that happens. So the first thing I need to

realize is that Jesus was criticized. Jesus was maligned, he

was attacked. So the more I'm like Jesus, it just

means I'm It's a sign, it's a symbol, it's a

confirmation and a compliment. Second thing you need to remember

this opposition will deepen my faith. Opposition will actually deepen

my faith. It's how your faith grows.

It's like the way you grow a muscle.

A muscle is grown not by sitting in a chair

and eating popcorn.

A muscles grown.

By stretching it, by straining it, by testing it. If

you've ever gone to a gym and worked out, and

obviously many of you haven't, then you know that the

way you grow a muscle is by straining it, by

stretching it, by pressuring it, by putting tension against it

and having weight pull in the opposite direction. You're never

going to grow any muscle if no weight's ever pulling

in the opposite direction. So opposition strengthens your faith. It

deepens your faith. You have no opposition in your life,

then you have no growing faith. And it is without

a doubt that the strongest believers in the world right

now are those who.

Are having their faith tested the most.

One Peter four one seven says this, these troubles that

you're going through will prove that your faith is genuine.

Just as gold is purified by fire and heat. Circle

that phrase, fire and heat. Just as gold is purified

by fire and heat, so your faith, which is far

more precious than gold, must also be purified by fire.

By this fire, and when the heat's on, and when

you're holding your feet to the fire, so it may endure.

And he says, what happens when opposition deepens my faith?

He says, then here's the result. You'll receive praise. You'll

receive praise, you'll receive glory, and and you'll receive honor

on the day when Jesus Christ is.

Revealed to the whole world. Your rewards are coming one day.

If you stand the heat, if you stand the fire,

if you let opposition deepen your faith, it makes me

more like Jesus, and it deepens my faith. And the

third thing it does opposition will give me eternal rewards.

No opposition you miss out on those rewards and eternity.

Now we come to the last of the eight beatitudes,

which we've been studying now for many, many weeks. We've

been studying this for a long time. And in the

last one, Jesus deals with how to deal with opposition,

and he says this, God blesses those who are persecuted

because they live for Me. The kingdom of Heaven will

be theirs. That's quite a guarantee. You will be blessed when,

not if when people insult you and persecute you and

falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me,

notice three different things there. Rejoice and be glad, because

great is your reward in heaven, for in the same

way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And

he says, I'm gonna bless anybody who's persecuted because they

live for God. Notice you don't get rewarded for being rude,

you don't get rewarded for being obnoxious. There are people

out in the world who live very self righteous lives,

and they're looking down on everybody and putting everybody else down.

And when you put other people down, and guess what

they're gonna put you down. And if you live a

self righteous, nuisance, rude life, when you get persecuted, you're

not a martyr. You're just a jerk. He's not saying

you get rewarded for being a jerk. There are people

out there who are pushy, they're nuisances, they're rude. And

I said, they're self righteous. They think they're better than

everybody else. He says, Now, you don't get rewarded for that.

You get rewarded for being like Jesus. And the Bible

tells us that when you share your faith, you're to

do it with gentleness and you're to do it with respect.

So these are the three things that need to remember

whenever harassment comes in my life.

It can make me more like Jesus.

It can deepen my faith, and I'm going to be

rewarded for it in eternity, forever and ever and ever. Now,

there are six things you need to do as America

becomes more and more anti Christian and more and more secularized. Now,

the Bible says, what are we supposed to do? And

it tells us six things. You might write these down

here's what you do when you handle opposition for your faith.

Number one, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised.

You should not expect the world to support your decision

to follow Jesus. Why would you expect them to think

that's oh, that's a real popular thing to do. One

Peter four to twelve says, dear friends, don't be surprised.

Don't be shocked when you go through painful trials that

are like walking through fire, as though something unusual is

happening to you. Jesus had told us. He said, in

the world, you're going to have tribulation. It's going to happen.

So don't be surprised. Number two, don't be afraid. So

don't be afraid. Now, how do I get rid of

the fear of opposition? How do I get rid of

the fear of disapproval? How do I get afraid? How

do I get rid of that fear of being rejected?

You need to be filled with God's love. The more

you realize how much God loves you, The Bible says

there's no fear in love. Perfect love cast out all fear.

You focus on God's love for you. See, healthy people

aren't afraid of rejection. Healthy people aren't afraid of disapproval.

Healthy people don't need everybody's approval. Healthy people know their

love by God. The Bible says in verse Peter three,

sixteen thirteen to sixteen, if you suffer for doing what

is right, God will reward you for it. So don't

be afraid and don't worry. Instead, worship Christ as Lord

of your life. And if you are asked about your

Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. And circle

the word worry and the word worship. Those are the

two alternatives you have when you feel put down, when

you feel pressured to be quiet about your faith in Christ.

You can either worry or you can worship. You can

panic or you can pray. You can focus on the

problem and the pressure and the persecution, or you can

focus on God. He says, turn your attention away from

the pressure you feel and turn it toward God. That's

what worship is, focusing on God. The Bible tells us

in the Bible that when Stephen, who was the first martyr,

was stoned to death, it said he looked up into

Heaven he worshiped instead of worried. As they were throwing

all those rocks at him that killed him. So don't

be surprised, And he says, don't be afraid. Worship instead

of worry. Number three, he says, don't be ashamed. Don't

be ashamed. You should never be embarrassed for standing for

the truth. Never be embarrassed for doing what's right. One

Peter four sixteen says, it's no shame. You shouldn't be ashamed.

It's no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Instead,

thank God for the privilege of being called by his name.

Question, is an.

Insult gonna kill you? No is a put down gonna

kill you. No is somebody calling you a name or

labeling you something because you've made a stand for Christ

and for what the Bible says. No is somebody some

troll on the internet who's trying to bait you and

get you in an argument. Is that gonna hurt you? No,

it's not. It's not gonna kill you. So he says,

don't be ashamed, don't be afraid, don't be surprised. Now,

I want you to write this sentence down, and if

you get this, it will liberate your life. I don't

need other people's approval to be happy. If you learn this,

if this is all you get in today's message, it'll

change your life because otherwise you are living your life

for what other people think rather than what God made

you to be. And you can't be who God made

you to be if you're worried about pleasing other people