Why Are We Talking So Much About Persecution?

Can’t we talk about something nice? Like charity or kittens? This talk of persecution and suffering is a downer!

The easy answer is: we follow the text. But there are more reasons we need to talk about persecution, and they are listed in 1 Peter 4. As promised Sunday, here they are. In case you’re wondering why we are so fired up to share these truths with you from Acts, read Peter’s Holy Spirit-inspired take on the subject.

1 Peter 4:12-19:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

We Are Studying Persecution:

1. So I Won’t Be Surprised. (1 Peter 4:12) Sometimes Christians seem genuinely shocked when the world acts like the world. Peter says, “Don’t be surprised, like this is a strange thing.” It’s a world that hates Jesus. And if you align with Him, the world hates you, too.
    
2. So I Will Know How to Respond. (1 Peter 4:13) Like the early church, persecution suffering shouldn’t result in “woe is me, poor me, pity me” attitudes – they should result in rejoicing! A hymn of praise lifted to heaven for this opportunity! How can this be? Read on...
    
3. So I May Share in the Sufferings of Jesus. (1 Peter 4:13, see also Acts 5:41, Philippians 3:10) It is a glorious truth from God’s Word: suffering isn’t just some unfortunate event. You are actually sharing in the sufferings of Christ! Share in suffering now, rejoice in glory with Him soon. What a marvelous thing to share the life of Christ now AND in eternity!
    
4. So I May Be a Strong Witness. (1 Peter 4:16, see also 2 Timothy 2:3) Suffering persecution isn’t a season of delay in ministry – it is a new opportunity to glorify God!
    
5. So I Learn to Trust God in a Deep Way. (1 Peter 4:19) Trusting God when things are hard always teaches us to trust Him in ways we don’t experience when things are smooth. You want to go deeper in your walk with God? It happens when you are persecuted.

We’re going to suffer persecution if we stand for Jesus. Let’s suffer well.

The Only Thing I Learned in College

I paid a lot of money for college. But I think I really only learned one thing. But it is the one thing I needed to learn, and I still carry with me to this day...

My first semester of college was a lot like a 1980s movie. It was so over-the-top... the way every single thing just seemed to go wrong. You could have cued a Huey Lewis and the News soundtrack behind my daily misadventures.

It’s funny now. Was not so much then. Living in western PA my whole life, then suddenly finding myself at college in Circleville, Ohio - in a place where I knew nothing and no one!

I laugh to myself when I think back now of trying to find the bookstore. The bookstore was right in town, but I seem to remember spending hours and hours and hours driving around block after block after block trying to find the bookstore. And the town wasn’t exactly New York City. So it’s embarrassing that I got lost repeatedly (this was before everyone and their baby cousin had a GPS).

Then the car problems. I remember having so many problems with that Chevy Cavalier. Problems that I, a non-mechanic, had to figure out how to fix, because I didn't have any money. Or tools. Or clue. I remember standing out in subzero weather in the parking lot with the hood popped, trying to replace the antifreeze tank, noting the irony as my hands were freezing. And I think at the time the only tool that I had was one of those little screwdrivers you get with an eye glasses repair kit.

So I'm in the middle of a place where I don't know anyone, I don't know where I'm going, and now I think I broke my only screwdriver and I'm not sure how I'm going to repair my eyeglasses.

Then school started. I went into the cafeteria for my first lunch as a freshman. Feeling geekishly awkward and desperately wanting to fit in, I remember how delighted I was when one of the "cool kids" (he must have been wearing sunglasses) offered me a seat at his table. Finally. Things are turning around for me.  

And right when I went to sit down, another student rushed up, grabbed the seat, turned around, and looked at me with a serious scowl, saying, “There’s no room for you here.“

I stood there with my tray of terrible food and looked around the table. Everybody was just looking at me, some with a “sorry about your luck, pal” expression, others with a “seat‘s taken, Forrest Gump“ look.

I briefly contemplated either dropping my tray and running out the door all the way back to Pittsburgh, or to start flinging my mashed potatoes like a crazy monkey. But I just stood there like an idiot, paralyzed and completely clueless as to what to say or do.

That's what I heard a voice. “Young man, would you like to join us?” I turned and saw the man who was speaking. He was one of the professors, Dr David Case. And he asked me to sit down at the table with all of the other professors and have lunch.

This didn't really make me any less nervous. I was afraid that they were going to talk about a lot of Bible stuff, and at the time I was a new Christian and didn't know a lot of Bible stuff.

But they didn't talk about Bible stuff at all. They just talked about things like where are you from and what brought you here and what’s your family like and what do you hope to do when you graduate and stuff like that.

I graduated from that school almost 15 years ago now. And I'm sure that I learned some things in my time at Circleville Bible College or Ohio Christian University or whatever they call it now.

But the only lesson that really stuck with me was that lesson that I learned on the first day: Some people just need someone to reach out to them, to know they are not alone.

Dr Case showed me (by his example to me) that I should always be on the lookout for those people. Yes, it sounds crazy, but that one simple act turned a lot of things around for me that day.

And it stopped any potential disciplinary measures from the Dean of Students for any unsightly mashed potato flinging damage.

Be on the lookout for people who need a friend.

p.s. - Since college, went on to fame and fortune and got a new screwdriver.

The Things You Learn at the Dollar Store

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."    ---Genesis 22:1-2

This story always astounded me.

My paraphrase (seriously, go back and read it in the Bible).

God: “Abraham, you are going to have a son.”

Abraham: “No way.”

God: “Yes, you are.”

<the son is born>

Abraham: “Woo-hoo!”

God: “Now go kill him.”

I beg your pardon…?

Yeah, I mentioned this story in the blog “I like the way you think, Abe.” but I was recently shown a little more insight into this passage.

My son Cade just lost his first tooth. He planned on springing a trap to catch the Tooth Fairy and “throw her in the bathtub”. Don’t ask, I don’t know.

Well, she took the tooth and left him 4 quarters and a note expressing her dismay at his nefarious plot. Too bad he’s a sound sleeper. She was in and out without him waking. Amazingly, since she is a 215 pound dude. (We bear a resemblance.)

Those quarters were burning a hole in his pocket, along with the other change he had. He was
longing for a trip to the Dollar Store, a place that makes Cade feel like Donald Trump. He can
walk in there and just buy anything!

While we were in there, I asked him, “Cade, would you buy something for Daddy?” He thought for a second…

“Sure! I’ll buy you something! What do you want?”

I replied, “I really don’t want anything, I just wanted to know that you were willing to do it.”

Then it hit me. Right there by the terrible coloring books and the horrible greeting cards. Abraham. God tested him.

But God knew what was already in Abe‘s heart, right?

Yeah, maybe that test was so Abraham would learn what was in Abe‘s heart, too. 

p.s. - Getting someone a card from the Dollar Store is one step away from telling them that they are dead to you.

Five Minutes of Crying

A couple of weeks ago, we had to get blood drawn from each of our kids. We are getting some tests run from a new doctor, and that requires a lot of blood work. Have you ever tried to get blood drawn from 8 and 6 year old autistic boys? Let’s put it this way: time-traveling, finding Bigfoot, and putting spandex on an octopus: all easier than getting blood drawn from an autistic boy. And we have two.

We had to sort of wrap them up in a blanket (one at a time of course) with only a head and arm exposed. Then I had to hold them totally still, in a wrap-around reverse over-the-shoulder leg scissor maneuver that would make an MMA fighter proud.

There was screaming. A lot of loud, panicked, confused screaming. Some of it was from the boys.

My wife Erin went into the waiting room where she saw an elderly woman crying. Erin asked, “Are you OK?” The woman replied, “It just breaks my heart to hear those children crying like that.”

Erin replied, “Five minutes of crying now will lead to something better for them in the future.”

Don’t we miss that lesson ourselves sometimes, fellow believers?

The Apostle Paul writes:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

The pain we experience in this life is described in 2 ways: light and momentary. It’s really not that bad, and the day is coming that it will all be over. You don’t know what I am going through. How can you say that? Because the glory ahead is described in 2 ways: eternal and “weighty” - it’s going to last forever, and it is going to be amazing.

How shall we compare the trials of life with the glory of heaven? We can’t. It’s beyond all comparison.

Going through a difficult trial right now? Keep your head up and your eyes on the LORD. Because five minutes of crying now will lead to something better in the future.

p.s. - only slightly stronger than an 8 year-old