Following Judah's Lion

We Must Love Him
to be
Persecuted for Him

Matt.5:11-12 - Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

We, the church, live in the midst of a culture that decimates the unborn, engages in all sorts of immoral and perverted sexual practices, uses violence to protect their lifestyle, and worships the idol of money. Now does it not make sense that the followers of Jesus would exhibit such a stark contrast to their surroundings that they would elicit persecution from the fallen community? I mean, if we are not being reviled. persecuted, and having all manner of evil spoken against us in this kind of fallen culture, where indeed would we ever be persecuted?

But notice the phrase “for My sake”. The church often thinks itself persecuted about their pro-life stance, or their traditional marriage view, or some other moral cause. That is not persecution, and in fact the church usually gives as good as it gets in these moral battles. The world pickets; the church pickets. The world boycotts; the church boycotts. The world shouts; the church shouts. The world votes; the church votes. Seems like a pattern has been formed.

But rarely is someone persecuted for Jesus’ sake directly. And that kind of persecution must not come because of our caustic rhetoric or our bold political involvement. Just like our Savior it must be our love, our humility, our sacrifice, our self denial, and all the fruits of the Spirit that causes the fallen flesh in others to lash out at us. But we have gotten it backwards. We seem to think that if we are outspoken, and if we confront the lost on their terms, that is what Jesus is teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.

And much of the church recoils at the notion that Jesus allowed Himself to be mocked and demeaned. “He was a man’s man” they say, as if meekness and humility are an affront to the character of Christ. The western mindset and culture has so seeped into the church that we can no longer embrace a Christ who isn’t like us. How despicable! And because of our caricature of Christ, the world believes He is a moral crusader, ready to do verbal warfare, critical of sinners, and most interested in creating a more pleasant and moral atmosphere for His people.

A man watches a boxing match. In a few minutes he can longer stand just watching so he leaves his seat, ducks through the ropes, and begins to swing at one of the boxers. The boxer returns his blows with blows of his own, and both of them begin to show bruises on their faces. But the man who jumped into the ring looks over the ropes at his friends and family in the audience and shouts, “Look, I am being persecuted!” No, he has voluntarily entered the ring and he is fighting in their arena and with the same weapons the rest of the boxers are using - their fists.

That is what has happened to the church. We have watched as the world castigates each other, engaged in a battle of words, uses large amounts of money to win the battle, and has constructed a carnal arena in which to fight some earthly war that never ends. But the church laid down her spiritual weapons and leaped into this awful fray and in so doing she has become one of them instead of being “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”. And what then is our divine exhortation?

Rev.2:4-5 - Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Who among us would deny that the western church has left our first love and has incorporated the fallen culture into our practices so that we now have an ecclesiastical amalgam rather than a luminescent manifestation of the Crucified and Risen Lord? Who could honestly contend that we still love Christ with abandon and selflessness? Are we still in awe and wonderment as we live in His presence? Can the cross bring us to tears? And do we relish the fellowship of His sufferings?

Instead of walking in the fellowship of His sufferings the church complains at every turn. Gas prices go up - complain. The economy struggles - complain. Politicians disappoint us - complain. A less than pleasant workplace environment - complain. Slow service at a restaurant - complain. And on and on it goes. But let us be honest, we no longer seek or even consider experiencing the fellowship of His sufferings. In fact, the church no longer even knows what that truly means. There are many, many parts of the New Testament that are presently lost to the church. They have become so culturally mangled that if God sent an angel to teach us about their true meaning and present day application, the church would cast that angel out as an extremist and an imposter.

Oh, I speak as one who has not arrived and has more ground to cover than most. But when I consider the absolute glory of His eternal sacrifice I am ashamed that I have not sacrificed more - no, ALL - for Him. Our ears incline to listen to the sirens of money and democracy and earthly prestige and success and we answer their calls. But the lowly Son of Man, drenched in His own blood, publicly suffering for us all, His call of love is faint to our ears.

And clothed in such an inconspicuous spiritual identity, we present little target for persecution. Why should men revile us? We do not humbly refrain from this hedonistic culture, in fact we participate in it. Even our theology has been twisted to comply with earthly success and prosperity. We celebrate the “holy days” that the world enjoys with only a few sentimental religious observances that are designed to make us feel as though we really believe them. Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Valentine’s Day, assorted famous birthdays, and all the rest are celebrated by saint and heathen alike. Persecution? Why?

What would happen if a group of believers fell madly in love with Jesus once again? What would happen if we reexamined every single facet of our lives through the prism of God’s Word? What would happen if the church house busted during the week with the prayers of saints, joyously leaving their television addiction, and beseeching God to know Him more intimately and to receive His power in order to reach those marching toward a Christless eternity? What would happen if the ministers took no thought of their “salary package” but left that up to God as they sacrificed their lives to obey His calling? What would happen if every once in a while the Spirit of God rushed into a Sunday morning gathering and accomplished such a work in the hearts of men and women that the community had to take notice. What would happen if our prayer lives were so primal both personally and corporately, that our children were absolutely convinced that Christianity was more than just the one true religion, but it was to be our very lives?

Make no mistake about it, if these things happened it would reach sinners for Christ, but it would also rear Satan’s ugly head and the fallen community around us would act in envy, pride, and fear and set about to revile us. Light and darkness cannot coexist. The darkness hates the light, and the light shines through the darkness. But as it stands, the church is a welcomed institution in a culturally diverse landscape. Light? It depends upon your definition of light. If you mean a light that is one of many in a pluralistic society, then yes, we have as much light as the Baha’i.

But if you mean the kind of light that set civilization ablaze years ago, if you mean the kind of light which swept continents with revival, if you mean the kind of light which got saints killed, then yes, that is God’s gospel light. But until we fall in complete and surrendered love with the Lord Jesus, that light will remain unrealized, and we must remain content with the counterfeit we now enjoy.