Persecution

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ."

Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:27-35).

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus speaks about the price of loyalty. Either we follow Jesus, or we get hopelessly lost following our own sin-twisted path. Either we dedicate ourselves to Jesus’ priorities, or we dedicate ourselves to our own sin-sickened priorities. Either we put ourselves at risk for Jesus’ sake, or we ignore our Lord in order to curl up into a little ball and try to protect ourselves. Jesus is very clear—it’s either Him or us.

Jesus does not sugarcoat this truth; the stakes are too high. There is only one way to heaven, and Satan does everything in his power to divert people from that path. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). To see heaven after death requires complete commitment to Jesus now while we are living, and the devil works feverishly to weaken that commitment by tempting us to lavish our attention on ourselves instead. The devil wants us to make our own comfort our first priority.

In the early days of the Church, the devil often distracted Christians through persecution. Persecution is when non-Christians use intimidation to make Christians back away from being wholly dedicated to Jesus. The early Christians were no threat to anybody; they taught about the love of Jesus, they helped the poor, and they lived peacefully under the rule of the Roman government. But Satan stirred up unbelievers to hate Christians. Jews became jealous because the Christians were winning converts from their religion. Roman emperors who thought of themselves as gods and demanded to be worshipped were angered that the Christians would only pray to their own ‘Triune God.’ Tradesmen who made a living selling religious idols and charms resented the loss of business that happened when people turned from superstition to Christianity.

Such hatred resulted in bloody persecutions. Christians were arrested and hauled before tribunals, where they were given a choice: say that they were misled, that Christianity was a false religion, and they could go free; or, insist that their allegiance was to Jesus before everything else, and they would be put to death.

Many Christians, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, renounced their faith—but many more stood firm, and were killed in increasingly gruesome ways. As more and more Christians went to their deaths without fear, those who persecuted them made the methods of execution increasingly horrible, but to no avail. Those who died because of their faith loved their Lord; they lived their lives in memory of Jesus’ words, Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).

Those persecuted Christians were willing to set aside everything for their Lord Jesus, even their very lives; it is to such people that Jesus promises, whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Jesus expects complete loyalty from those who follow Him; He said if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. But there is a reward for such complete loyalty—eternal life and eternal happiness in the Lord’s presence in heaven. Paul put it this way in Romans chapter 8: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

What moved these men and women to such complete devotion? Nothing less than a miracle of God. Paul wrote, the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God (Romans 8:7). He also wrote, you were dead in your transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Those early Christians understood that they had been living in a hopeless situation—unable to please God in even the smallest way and condemned to eternal death in hell for that reason. But our God is the God of ‘second chances’; Daniel wrote The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him (Daniel 9:9).

In order to free us from the delusions of sinful thinking, God sent His Son Jesus to live among us in the form of a man. During His years on earth, Jesus taught His followers how to distinguish between the truths of God and the slippery lies of sin; He taught them that human wisdom, which is created by minds that are twisted by sin, is actually foolishness and leads us to rely on ourselves for the answers to life’s problems. Only God’s words can be trusted for wisdom that leads to everlasting life, words spoken by Jesus and by the prophets and apostles of God who spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

But wisdom alone is not enough; even the wisest man still makes mistakes, still angers God with sin every day. So Jesus accepted the role of being our scapegoat, the one who God would punish for our foolish errors. God heaped the responsibility for all our crimes of heart, soul, and body on Jesus as He hung upon the cross, and vented all of His righteous anger at His Son as the bearer of our sins. Jesus suffered the agonies of hell for us that day, so that our sins can now be lifted from us simply at our humble asking.

This is the miracle of God that put such devotion in the hearts of the persecuted Christians. Only a miracle could transfer God’s punishment of our sins from us to another; only a miracle of God could give life to we who were spiritually dead. A miracle is, by definition, something that only God can do—and His greatest miracle of all time is our restoration to being His dear children through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on our behalf. Having been dead inside, having lived with fear of God and death and hell, those early Christians could not bear the thought of ever going back to that existence again, no matter what sorts of threats they might face as a consequence. And, knowing by the power of the Holy Spirit living in them that heaven is a reality for the believer in Jesus, they were enabled by God to withstand Satan’s every temptation to renounce their Lord, even in the face of death.

Christians continue to be persecuted today. In many countries dominated by Muslims or Hindus, Christians are threatened, beaten, imprisoned and murdered—all because of their faith in Jesus. But persecution is alive and well right here in America as well; it just isn’t so obvious. Remember, persecution is the use of intimidation to make a Christian back away from being wholly dedicated to Jesus. With that in mind, let’s briefly consider how persecution thrives in the United States:

America is supposed to be a country where everyone is free to say what he wants; yet spoken prayers have been outlawed in our schools, the Ten Commandments cannot be posted in courthouses, and if you want to speak against abortion as a violation of God’s law, you cannot go near an abortion clinic. Violation of these laws can result in being treated as a criminal.

Persecution happens in subtler ways as well. In America, everyone’s opinion is supposed to be of equal value. Yet if you dare to tell another person that Jesus is the only way to get to heaven, you are likely to be accused of being narrow-minded. If you try to help people recognize as sinful those behaviors that cause separation from God, like acts of homosexuality, you will be labeled as ‘intolerant of alternative lifestyles’. In a country where everyone is supposedly entitled to his opinion, it is a social crime to disapprove of another person’s beliefs or lifestyle. Daring to speak out in favor of Biblical morality will invite the anger of those who love living in sin, resulting in threatening phone calls, hate mail, and vandalism.

It even happens among our families and friends. How many of you have a relative who makes jokes about your dedication to living as a Christian? How many of you have a friend who tries to get you to skip church to go golfing or hunting or fishing? How many times in your life have you felt embarrassed about being a follower of Jesus?

The net effect of all this is that sometimes you may want to hide the fact that you are a Christian. Do you want your child to get into trouble for praying out loud at school? Do you want to get your house egged because you said publicly that homosexual acts are sinful? Do you want to have your best friend sulk when you won’t go hunting with him on Sunday mornings? Do you ever feel embarrassed by being a Christian? Such things are evidence of intimidation. Such things are evidence of persecution. Such things are Satan’s efforts to tear down your loyalty to Jesus.

Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Jesus did not just mean that we must be willing to sacrifice our lives; He meant that we must be willing to stand up and be counted when the going gets rough. The cross He calls us to bear for Him is the burden of enduring the hatred of those who hate Jesus; the cross He calls us to carry is the cross of ridicule, cold stares, angry words, and all the other threats that are intended to make us fear that following Jesus just isn’t worth it.

But we can endure because following Jesus is worth any hard times Satan brings into our lives. No human being can teach us how to please God; no human teaching can take away our guilt for our mistakes. Only Jesus can fix what sin has broken. Only Jesus can lift the burden of guilt and give us a fresh start on life every day. Only Jesus can lead us through a world of pitfalls to the gates of heaven, and only He can raise us from the dead to enjoy life forever in perfect peace and happiness.

Deny Jesus in order to protect ourselves from persecution?—foolish and unthinkable! Deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him?—absolutely!