The Persecuted Church

We read the scripture from Acts chapter 4, verses 23 through 31.

Acts 4:23–31

And then following that, we're going to have a short video, and during the video, we'll be taking the morning offering.

So if you would join with me in Acts chapter 4, beginning in verse 23.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

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Acts chapter 4, beginning in verse 23.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Then the war came.

Now the terrorists are attacking Christian homes, churches, and even our children.

Their goal is to empty Syria of its Christians.

We hate the spirit of Islam that is destroying our country.

But we love our Muslim neighbors.

They come to us and say, in the name of our God, terrorists rape and kill.

Where is God?

We tell them about Jesus, and many are coming to know him.

Still others say we are like living in hell.

One day, while I was praying, I asked God what he would have me do to be his witness.

But he only asked me, Will you give me your life?

As I prayed, I understood he wanted all of me.

And I said, Yes.

If the time came, I was willing to die for Jesus.

The next day, while I was praying, I asked God again what he would have me do.

This time he asked me, Are you willing to give me your husband's life?

It is not easy to be ready to die.

My husband and I prayed about this together.

We said yes to God.

The third day was the most difficult.

On this day, God asked me if I was willing to give up my children's lives.

The terrorists know who we are and that we share Jesus with Muslims.

It is not safe for our family.

My husband and I prayed and fasted, and together we agreed.

God gave us our precious children.

He has the freedom to take them back.

When we agreed to put our children on the altar, I knew I had to tell them the truth.

I told them that it was possible that men with swords may come through our door, men who didn't know Jesus.

They may say bad things to us and try to force us to convert to Islam.

But no matter what they say, we should not answer them.

We should only tell them that Jesus loves them.

And that we forgive them.

But it would only be for a little while.

That we should just close our eyes.

And when we open them, we will be with Jesus.

Am I a good mother?

Do you have to tell my children such things?

I also told them that as long as God wants us to be safe, we will be safe.

That He is in control.

Even during the bloodshed, during the killing, He is carrying our future.

This is what it means to be a Christian in Syria.

Remember the words that Jesus said?

He said, A servant is no greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

Paul said, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will face persecution.

There are degrees of persecution.

Most of us will never face the type of persecution that we're focusing on this morning, as the video shows as some of the posters and the information in the back remind us.

What most of us will experience is minor compared to what others around the world, and yet it is true that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Some of it is more passive persecution.

As people are mean or unkind or were slighted or overlooked or ignored or shunned.

In this country, it may mean being passed over for a job or losing a job or being marginalized or forgotten or gossiped about or slandered.

And yet we know around the world there's active persecution, there's verbal attacks that go to the core.

There is emotional abuse of mocking and dehumanizing that goes on.

People being treated like less than human because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

There are spiritual attacks, burning down of churches, punishing, conversion to Christ.

In some countries, the sharing of Jesus Christ is illegal.

They can be beaten or thrown in prison or killed.

The physical abuse or the social outcasts in pariah, somebody converts to Jesus Christ and their entire family and friends turn their back on them.

They are truly alone in that community.

I see a video like this this morning, and I think I don't know how I could say what Liana said.

I don't know how I could do what she did.

And one of the things I'm reminded of is that God gives sustaining grace at the moment.

Right now I couldn't do that.

I couldn't say that.

God doesn't promise tomorrow's grace today.

He gives today's grace today.

And he will give you the grace you need tomorrow to face the things that you will go through tomorrow.

Persecution is inevitable.

Persecution reveals what we believe about God, what we believe about salvation, what we believe about life, what we believe about death.

It reveals what we truly value.

The times of quiet are times to prepare ourselves for that.

In one sense, the future and the circumstances are unknown and out of our control, but that doesn't mean that we are passive.

Now is the time when we actively prepare our hearts for whatever the future has for us in glorifying God.

We have an active responsibility to prepare our hearts for inevitable persecution in whatever degree and whatever way that will take shape in our lives.

How can we do that?

How can we prepare our hearts?

I think we can learn from this passage and see from the examples of those we read about and hear about around the world of what to do to prepare our hearts for persecution.

Our confident dependence on a sovereign God enables us to stand firm against inevitable persecution that will come.

This passage this morning, we see the example of the apostles and the disciples, and we learn five ways we can prepare our hearts now.

Things that we can do to gird up our faith and strengthen and fortify our hearts.

So when that day happens, in whatever way, shape, or form it is, we'll be ready.

This passage gives us five ways we can prepare our hearts for persecution.

First, by rejoicing in prayer, we'll see.

Second, by reading the scripture, third by reflecting on God, fourth by remembering the gospel, and finally by relying on the Holy Spirit.

First of all, we prepare for a persecution by rejoicing in prayer.

Look at verse 21, right before the passage that we read this morning.

It says, And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people.

For all were praising God for what had happened.

What had just happened?

We see in chapter 3 a miracle that had happened.

In chapter 4, in verse 2, it says, greatly annoyed, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day.

They were preaching and teaching in Jesus' name.

God was working through them in amazing ways.

And the priests and the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the religious authorities were greatly annoyed, and so they were arrested.

The next day they stood before the leaders and boldly proclaimed why they were there.

That they stood there in Jesus' name.

They said that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

The religious leaders were confounded.

Here were ordinary men, but they had been in the presence of Jesus.

They threatened them.

There was nothing else they could do.

They threatened them.

Speak no more about this Jesus.

I think about what was going on in their hearts.

What temptations would Satan put in their hearts and their minds at that moment?

It's a much more common temptation than we may realize.

The temptation that they were faced with was the fear of man.

In fact, it's such a common temptation that grips our hearts more than we ever realize.

The fear of man, the fear of what people might think, what they might say, what they might do.

We have a desire to fit in, we have a desire to be liked, we have a desire to be accepted, and all of that goes to the core of our hearts.

And how will we respond?

Do we fear God or do we fear man at the moment that we are put to the test?

What will come out?

Jesus warns us, he says, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who can kill the body.

And after that, there's nothing more they can do.

Why aren't we bold in our faith?

Fear of man.

Why do we keep quiet among our friends at school?

Fear of man.

Why do we find excuses not to share the gospel boldly to our to our neighbors and our coworkers?

Fear of man.

Why are we afraid to stand up and to be different from the world around us?

Fear of man.

It's a temptation, a struggle that goes to the core of who we are at any moment that we're tested, large or small.

What will people think of us?

What will they say about us?

What will they do to us?

And so we keep quiet.

Fear of man lies behind most of our passivity and our excuses for living out the Christian life.

We're afraid of what people are going to think or say or do, so we remain silent.

What did the disciples do in response to these threats?

They rejoiced in prayer.

They immediately praised God for what was happening.

Not just the gospel going forth, but the fact that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.

And they began to worship.

They began to praise God in prayer.

They rejoiced in prayer.

We're commanded to praise God in the midst of persecution.

Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mountain, verses 11 and 12.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and other utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad.

For your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

We rejoice in how persecution is increasing our dependence upon God.

James, a half-brother of Jesus, wrote this count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds.

Count it all joy.

Consider what God is doing in this and through this, and how God's grace is being magnified and the gospel is being proclaimed as you faithfully endure persecution.

We rejoice in how persecution is shaping our characters.

Paul says this in Romans 5.

Not only this, but we rejoice in our sufferings.

Not that knowing that sufferings produce endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces a hope, but this hope is not a superficial hope.

This hope is a confidence in God in spite of and regardless of the circumstances around us, because there is one constant and one thing that can't change, and that is my Father loves me.

We rejoice in how God is being glorified, that all things work together for good, for the good of the kingdom and the good of the gospel.

And so persecution is an opportunity to praise God for what he is doing in the midst of circumstances.

We prepare for persecution by rejoicing in prayer, but there's a second way that we prepare for persecution.

And we also find it embedded in this passage here, and that is we prepare for persecution by reading scripture.

Notice that immediately their mind goes back to God's word.

They were so saturated by scripture, they were drawn to the reality of what God has said in his word.

Their minds interpreted life in light of the truth of the solid foundation of God's word.

It wasn't the circumstances that they were looking at, it wasn't the speculations of how things might work out.

They looked back and they saw God through his word.

And this reminds us of the importance of regular, consistent, systematic studying and meditating and mulling over and memorizing God's word so that it is deep in our hearts as a solid foundation when we face inevitable persecution.

Psalm 119, 11 says, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

We store up God's word in our hearts for those days, those moments, those hours, those years of enduring persecution gladly for the sake of Christ.

God's word, God uses his word to fortify our hearts, to strengthen them, to undergird us so that we stand firm.

Many of us as believers live a very sentimental and emotional life.

I remember years ago a friend of mine who said, Well, you know, I don't really read God's word and study it or memorize it much, but I love Jesus and I am passionate about my love for Jesus.

But as struggles came, as difficulties came, as trials came, there was nothing solid underneath, and eventually he began to wander.

And if we don't have God's word deeply in our hearts, Fear will grip us.

And we'll respond based on how we see things, not based on faith.

God's word is indispensable to a sturdy faith.

And now for us in this country, we have the opportunity to prepare because one day, large or small, persecution will come.

When we hear the stories of the martyrs and those who are enduring persecution day after day, one of the things that we see as a constant is the reality of God's word that they hold to and cling to because they know it is truth.

Not what they see.

We prepare for persecution by rejoicing in prayer and by reading scripture.

But we find a third way to prepare our hearts.

We prepare our hearts by reflecting on God.

There are two concepts about uh about God that we often join together, but they're really distinct, and that is God's sovereignty and his providence.

Both of those we see here in this passage, God's sovereignty has to do with God being king.

Notice how they begin their prayer and they say, sovereign Lord, and it's an unusual word for God.

It's a word that connotes God's absolute control over all of creation as the absolute supreme ruler.

God's sovereignty refers to his authority and his power, that he is the king of kings and the lord of lords, and that he is seated on his throne.

The disciples reflect on Psalm 2.

And the kings of the world can plot and scheme.

But God sits on his throne and laughs because, as Isaiah said, they are like dust on the scales.

They are nothing, they are less than nothing.

And all of the kings of this world can plot against God, but they have no power over the sovereign Lord.

They reflected on God's sovereignty, they reflected on God's providence.

Sovereignty refers to God's kingship, providence refers to God's actively working through situations and circumstances, guiding them for his purpose and his glory.

And as you look at this passage in the book of Acts, we see that they see God's hand in the midst of circumstances.

That this world hasn't slipped out of God's control.

It's not careening out of control, and God is running to try to catch it, to catch up in order to fix it.

They reflected on God's purpose in all things.

Oftentimes, when I think about God's sovereignty and providence, I think about Joseph in the Old Testament, a passage that we've studied and thought about.

Joseph was, of anyone could have thought that the world had slipped out of control, sold into slavery at age 17.

And what their brothers did in selling him and rejecting him and selling him out of hatred for him was evil, and they were accountable for their actions.

But 17 years later, he could look at his brothers after all of the circumstances he had gone through.

And he could say to them, For God has sent me before you to preserve your life.

He sees God's sovereignty, he sees God's hand guiding the circumstances.

It doesn't take away human responsibility.

For later in Genesis, he says, You meant it for evil to me.

You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

To bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

We can see both the evil acts around us and call them exactly what they are.

They are evil.

And yet we can also recognize that God is sovereignly working in and guiding these situations through his hand of providence.

And a general sovereignty will not do.

God is Lord of the details of our lives, both good and bad.

This does not mean that God actively causes evil, but he works through it for his good purpose.

And nothing, absolutely nothing, happens without God's divine permission.

God sees all, he knows all, and he permits all that comes to pass.

And if he wanted to stop something, he could, and he would, that he hasn't revealed to us reveals to us that he has permitted it.

I don't understand why sometimes, most of the time.

But yet I know that suffering and persecution are a part of God's mysterious will that will ultimately bring him glory, will advance the kingdom, and will proclaim the gospel.

Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God.

The things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever.

The suffering and the persecution and the evil that is around us is a part of the secret counsels of God.

And we may never understand why God permits something to happen, but we know that He has a purpose and that he will be glorified through it.

There's a fourth way that we prepare for persecution.

We prepare for persecution by remembering the gospel.

The believers here in Acts chapter 4, they saw God's hand, but they looked to Jesus and they remember the gospel.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

The believers applied these truths directly to the most evil act in all of human history.

The murder of the Son of God who was completely innocent.

We need to look to the cross and look to Jesus and see how that intersects with the details of our lives each day.

When we look to Jesus and his suffering on the cross, we see in the face of persecution, in the face of the face of suffering, we see Jesus' dependence on the Father and His faith.

And we are reminded that we need to look to the Father who loves us and depend on him in faith.

We learn from the rejection of Jesus, and he put his trust in his father who loved him.

And when we go through suffering, when we face persecution, we look to our Father who loves us.

From the persecution of Jesus, we learn grace and mercy to the guilty that persecute us.

That Jesus hanging on the cross could say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

They should have known, and they were guilty for their willful ignorance, but his heart was a heart of compassion and grace.

Jesus was the only truly innocent person, and we learn from the mocking and maligning of Jesus to respond in love and forgiveness.

And so in persecution, we remember the gospel.

We need to prepare our hearts now, in the times of quiet, in the times of peace, because persecution will come.

We prepare our hearts by prayer and by scripture and by focusing on God and by remembering the gospel.

And finally, we prepare our hearts for persecution by relying on the Holy Spirit.

They were emboldened by the Holy Spirit.

Look at verse 29, the beginning of verse 29, and it says, And now, Lord, look upon their threats.

They're saying, God, consider what is happening to me.

Look at my life, look at my circumstances, look at these evil threats of persecution and beating and imprisonment and death.

Look upon what is happening in my life.

And I think to myself, what would I say after that in prayer?

What would how would I end that prayer?

Would I say, Lord, look at my life, protect me from these evil men?

Lord, look at my life, deliver me from this dangerous situation.

Lord, look at my life.

I don't deserve what I'm going through.

Lord, look at my life and vindicate me in the eyes of my enemies.

Lord, I don't deserve this.

But look at what they prayed at the end of verse 29.

And Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.

They prayed for boldness, for courage in the face of fear of man.

The people around them were amazed at the work of the Holy Spirit that God confounds the resistant.

God was at work in the life of the apostles confirming the gospel as the scriptures were being written and the gospel was going forth.

And even now we hear stories of God working in miraculous ways to confound the enemies of the gospel and turn their hearts towards Jesus.

It says, And when they had prayed, the place in which they had gathered together was shaken.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Oh, that we would pray, and that God would shake this place to wake us and embolden us to be witnesses for the gospel.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is an empowering, a strengthening, an undergirding work of the Holy Spirit.

It gives the imagery of a vessel that's being filled up, and it's both power for living, about power for being and power for doing.

Earlier in this same chapter, it said that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit in verse 8.

And it seems that he was filled again here in verse 31 on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, verse 4, it says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:4

Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event.

In fact, in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 18, it says, be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:18

And literally it says, be being filled with the Spirit.

There is a moment by moment and day by day dependence of saying, God, I am weak.

Give me your strength and the power of your Holy Spirit living in me, so that I may proclaim the gospel boldly.

People are led by the Spirit to speak.

Humility independent prayer.

We should never presume upon God in anything of the Christian life, and that includes the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in filling us.

And it ought to be an ongoing prayer and an ongoing reality in our lives.

I don't know that I could say or do what Liana did or said, but at that moment, God will give me the grace that I need, but He calls me and He calls us to prepare our hearts now.

And He calls us to pray for those who are being persecuted even as we meet in peace and safety.

And we'll be reminded of that with a video.