Tag Archives: persecuted

JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES’ FUTURE

Christian Life, ,

JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES’ FUTURE

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. Matthew 24:9

Just as much as He prepared them to be His witnesses whenever and wherever the opportunity presented, Jesus also made sure that His disciples were well prepared for what lay ahead for them as loyal followers. Life for them would not be a bed of roses. Association with Him meant danger and possible death because they were not above their Master. As He was, so were they in the world.

Jesus had much to say about His disciples’ future, again not to satisfy their curiosity but to enable them to face it with the right attitude and the right equipment. Unlike our many prophecy boffins who are passionate about setting up time-lines, Jesus did not give them a time-table so that they could tick off events as they happened, but He gave them signs which they would be able to recognise, to know that His return was going to happen.

Our prophecy teachers draw charts, make predictions and presumptuous interpretations and love to place us somewhere… here… on the chart…. Jesus, on the other hand, gave guidelines to His disciples so that they would always be ready, no matter when He comes. He did not give them any opportunity to sail as close to the wind as possible. Life was about being a mirror of their rabbi so that they would always represent Him to the world around them, no matter what, when or where.

Jesus told them many things about their immediate future. For them it was not a rosy picture! They would share the same hatred and rejection that He experienced because they were His followers. They had to understand that humans were at enmity with God. Anyone who stood on God’s side would share the treatment He got – therefore it should not take them by surprise. How were they to respond?

Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matt. 10: 17-20)

Whatever Jesus had to say about the future of the individual disciple, or all of His disciples was intended to prepare them so that, when it happened, they would know exactly how to handle each situation. He was sending them out like lambs among wolves, but they would have a divine companion who was not only with them but in them. The Holy Spirit in them would equip them with the truth. Like Jesus, they were to use the weapon of the Word with which to fight. The outcome was not their responsibility. If people refused to believe the truth, they would have to face the consequences of their choices.

Jesus not only equipped them with information about the future so that they would know what to expect and how to respond in times of adversity; He also warned them against developing wrong attitudes to the apparent delay of His return.

The people in Noah’s day refused to believe Noah’s warning that the flood was coming. They continued to live their God-denying lives until the moment when the rain fell, and they were swept away in the flood. Jesus’s return will be as unexpected as that!

The homeowner has no idea that a thief is about to break into his house. Had he known, he would have kept watch to protect his possessions. The household servant who gets tired of waiting for the master’s return begins to carouse and to abuse his fellow servants. When the master returns unexpectedly and finds the household in disarray and the duties left undone, the head steward will be punished for his neglect and abuse.

The point of these stories was to warn His disciples not to fall into the trap of neglect. For them it was less important to know when Jesus was returning than to know that He was coming back. It was not about doing the right thing when He returned as it was about being faithful all the time, regardless of when He returned. This is the heart of a true servant – not putting on an act for the Master to see but being faithful to the task whether He is there or not. It was this attitude that would safeguard His disciples against being caught off guard.

As followers of Jesus, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that it does not matter how we live if we believe in Jesus. We must also not think, like some of the people of the world think, that we can live as we like until the last minute and then put things right with God. If we have followed through this series, we have learned that being a disciple of Jesus means that we  walk in the truth of God’s Word which is the only way to the Father. When we choose our own way, we get lost in the wilderness and will die in the desert without the sustenance of God’s life in us.

How important it is for us to stay on the path by following the voice of our Shepherd! This is the only guarantee that we shall reach our destination and enjoy the life of God forever in His eternal kingdom.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Reward Of Faith

Bible Study, , , ,

THE REWARD OF FAITH

“See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they boast about your circumcision in the flesh.” Galatians 6:11-13.

This issue was so urgent for Paul that he even wrote this letter himself instead of using a scribe as he usually did. Apparently he was short-sighted, or he had some other eye problem that affected his eyesight. Some commentators believe that he had an eye disease which made him look unsightly, hence his comment in chapter 4:13-15.

As he struggled to pen his thoughts, he turned again to the men who were undermining the faith of the Galatians, and persuading them to take on the burden of a yoke God’s own people were unable to bear. Paul had walked that road himself and he knew how burdensome it was, and how glorious it was to walk in the freedom of knowing Christ Jesus and His forgiveness and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

These Judaizers, of course, had a hidden agenda. They knew the truth but they were dodging the offence of the cross. In Paul’s day, persecution came from two fronts. The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and turned their hatred on the believers. As an ambassador for Christ and in the forefront of the battle, Paul was prime target for their anger. They hounded him from city to city as he moved across the Roman Empire, using every excuse to take him out.

The Roman government and their representatives had it in for the believers because they refused to bow to Caesar as Lord. Nero, the crazy emperor during Paul’s time, used Christians as the scapegoat for his madness and invented more and more cruel ways to dispose of them, even killing them for entertainment in the great amphitheatre in Rome.

Whereas, in the beginning, the new “cult” of Jesus-followers was identified with Judaism and tolerated by Rome, later on the Jews dissociated themselves from the people of “The Way”. Rome tolerated the Jews and allowed them to practise their monotheistic religion but they rejected the Christians’ insistence that Jesus, not Caesar, was Lord and the Prince of Peace and Saviour. Christians were outlawed and killed for treason against Rome.

Hence these Judaizers who were supposedly followers of Jesus, remained under the umbrella of Judaism to protect themselves from persecution. To come out boldly and openly on the side of Jesus was suicidal. To proselytise and get a following of Gentiles for themselves was a protection against the anger of the Jewish religious leaders.

To follow the teaching of the Judaizers was to renounce Jesus and escape the offence of the cross in this life but, at the same it meant forfeiting God’s grace and the hope of eternal life. They could not have it both ways.

Having explained the implications of their actions, Paul was now calling on them to make a choice. If they chose Jesus, they would put themselves in the firing line for persecution and possible execution, but that was par for the course in this life. The reward of faith far outweighed the price they would pay for following Jesus.

These antagonists, according to Paul, were no advert for the religion they professed to follow. No one, not even they, were able to obey the law perfectly, yet they were insisting that their way was the way to God. Why believe them when their way did not work and never had worked, as the history of God’s people revealed? In the end, it was not their zeal for the law that drove them to seek a following but their cowardly desire to dodge persecution. Not only did they follow a false way themselves, but they also tried to drag others with them.

The way of the cross is the way of suffering, but the promise of God stands above it all as a beacon of hope.

“Now if we are children of God, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:17, 18.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Right About Turn

Bible Study, , , ,

RIGHT ABOUT TURN!

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

“I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” Galatians 1:10-14.

How much zeal and energy Paul poured into this letter! He knew he was in a life-and- death struggle for the souls of the believers in Galatia. He would use every possible means to persuade them that they had been fooled.

Perhaps he had been accused of being a people-pleaser. But it was quite the opposite. Preaching the cross of Christ was offensive to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Who would want to follow a fellow who had been crucified by the Romans? He must have been a lawbreaker. How could He be a god worthy of worship? It was unthinkable that God’s Messiah could have been put to death like a common criminal. After all, He was supposed to be their king and deliverer.

Paul had been hounded from city to city by the Jews for daring to invite Gentiles to believe in their God. Gentiles were dogs and scum and Jews did not associate with them. That Gentiles were included in God’s covenant with Abraham was unthinkable. Paul not only taught that but he also went as far as teaching that Gentiles who believed in Jesus were spiritual children of Abraham while Jews who did not receive Jesus as their Messiah were excluded from the covenant. How was that for being a people-pleaser!

Paul’s history also made it impossible to think that he had invented the gospel he preached. He had been a vicious persecutor of those who followed Jesus. He was determined to stamp out this new religion, even if it meant exterminating every follower, one by one. He went to every city and town where they were, arresting and dragging them off to Jerusalem to be tried by the Sanhedrin.

He had not reckoned on Jesus or His purpose for him. Jesus was not fazed by Paul’s zeal for the tradition of his fathers; not for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, mind you! Had he been zealous for their faith, he might have acted differently. In typical Pharisee style, his hatred for followers of Jesus did not take into account that he was not acting like the patriarchs who loved and trusted God rather than murdering those who did believe as they did! Just like his fellow Pharisees who were children of the devil, according to Jesus, Paul had been a murderer and the followers of Jesus were his target.

How did Saul, hater and murderer of Christians become Paul, loyal follower of Jesus and preacher of the good news about the cross and resurrection of the very one he had persecuted? Only God could do that! And only Jesus could explain it to Paul by revelation so clearly that he could write the kind of things he wrote without qualms. He did not sit at the feet of Peter or get the message from John. He got it from Jesus Himself in the years he spent in solitude in Arabia.

No one as zealous or fanatical as Paul can make a right-about turn by himself. It has to be a work of God and a revelation of grace. From one who pumped the law the way Paul did to one who preached the sufficiency of Christ’s work which actually cancelled and did away with the law, took a powerful and life-changing encounter with the one he had rejected and refused to believe.

Paul had a very strong case for the source of his gospel. Unlike the Judaizers who were building on tradition, and defending their position with the might of the Jewish hierarchy behind them, Paul based his case on the authority given to him by God and the revelation of the truth from Jesus Himself. How could they argue against the transformation of the messenger of this good news?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.