Preparing For Persecution XXI

 When the future is crystal clear and what is to follow is evident, as a child of God, you will have two choices: submit, surrender, give up, and hope to blend into the background, or persevere, endure, and commit all your ways to the Lord. You can’t avoid the hard thing forever. You can’t avoid making a choice, thinking that the storm will pass you by.

When Jesus said that all would hate us for His name’s sake, He meant it just as readily as He meant it when He said He would return. We tend to gravitate toward the positive declarations Jesus made while avoiding the ones that have a negative connotation or foretell of suffering and grief. They are no less important, however, and a wise servant takes the whole counsel of Christ to heart and not just the parts that are pleasing.

Matthew 10:21-22, “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

Peter and John were present when Jesus spoke these words so what was happening didn’t come as a surprise, yet they were self-aware enough to know that they needed God’s help in order to endure what was coming. When they returned to their companions and reported what had gone on, they didn’t set about seeing what compromises they could make to appease the high priest, nor did they proceed with an endless celebration that they’d been freed. Rather, they raised their voices to God in one accord and cried out to Him. They knew where their help would come from, and it would not be a government body or any man but God Himself.

If you’ve ever been desperate, then you know the type of prayer this was. This was no subdued, formulaic prayer. It was a heart cry borne of a desire to see God's power and presence and to be equipped for the challenges that lay ahead. They knew what was coming, and they knew what they lacked. They didn’t beat their chests telling each other how great they were or quibbling about whose name would go on the ministry header. They never made it about them. It was always about God and about having the boldness and fortitude to continue preaching His word when the world was set against them.

Whether it had started due to jealousy or fear of losing market share, the followers of Christ were now in the crosshairs of the Sanhedrin, high priest, Pharisees, and all the other religious luminaries of their time, and the disciples understood what this meant. It’s funny how, during the days of the early church, the Pharisees and their ilk spoke of miracles in the past tense, just as some speak of them in the past tense in our day.

If asked directly, all of them would likely have agreed that God was a God of miracles, but they would point to the days of Moses and Elijah and say He did miracles, but in those days, during that time, not so much today, so just come and bring your offerings and nevermind all that supernatural stuff. When confronted with the true power of God and the reality that God remained the same as He’d ever been, able to heal, restore, and do miracles because they could not humble themselves or wrap their minds around the idea that though they thought themselves spiritually superior a couple of fishermen had outshined them, they chose the attempted eradication of those whom God had chosen to turn the world upside down.

There’s a lesson in this we would do well to heed because history has a way of repeating, and though they might go by a different name, a Pharisee can’t change its stripes.

A Pharisee will be content with an emotional response rather than insist upon a transformed life. It makes for good television to see a thousand people raise their hands at a crusade, but how many of those thousand come back the next day, humble themselves, repent, and submit to Christ? How many of them deny themselves, pick up their crosses, and become true disciples of Jesus?

Those who had gathered together to cry out to God were not interested in superficial religiosity. No one lays down their lives for something superficial or something they can get in any other religion without the threat of reprisal. I hear Buddhists are great on the tambourine, too, as are the Hare Krishna, and if you’re looking for positivity or structured purpose, there’s always Hinduism or Scientology. There are nearly four thousand recognized religions in the world, but only one faith whose head died on a cross rose from the dead on the third day and then ascended into heaven. There is only one faith that insists upon a relationship with God rather than blind adherence to a set of rules.

Those who had gathered together had found truth, had found light, had found life, and they were not about to capitulate and surrender this greatest of treasures. When we understand the value of something, we are more likely to hold it near, protect it, prioritize it, and sacrifice for it. The early church knew what they had, and no amount of threats or persecution would sway them from following Christ. Jesus is the treasure. He is the pearl of great price, and those who come to the knowledge of Him are no longer their own but surrender their lives to Him in all things.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Posted on 29 April 2024 | 11:08 am