Don’t Be Shocked When You Are Persecuted

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”  – 2 Corinthians 4:8-12.

No one enjoys suffering. No one. No one likes to be persecuted either. The Bible regards suffering as normal. The Bible very definitely tells the growing Christian to expect persecution. 1 Peter 4:12 emphatically states that we should not be “don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through,” or think that “something strange” is happening to us when we are persecuted as Christians. Acts 14:22 says, “where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”  Philippians 1:29 adds, “For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.” And finally 2 Timothy 3:12: “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”   

In the book of 1 Peter, God tells us a lot about persecution. In fact, this book of the Bible could be called a handbook on suffering persecution. It was written just before the outbreak of the Roman persecutions under Nero in 64 A.D.  But of course, 1 Peter 4:12 is applicable to Christians of all time. Christians of the 20th century should expect to be persecuted for their faith as were the Christians of the 1st century.

Although persecution of the believer is to be expected and is “according to God’s will” (1 Peter 4:19 NIV), let us remember that this is a family matter. We are the children of a “faithful Creator” (v19) who always has our best interests in view. We should rejoice because God is being glorified. Peter says, “But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!” (Vs 16) In the book of Job, Job’s friends insisted that he was suffering because he had done evil, because he deserved it. Job was suffering because God had determined it and because Satan was bent on it. As Job was shown to be blameless, and as Job refused to curse God, God was glorified. Throughout history, we have seen God glorified in times of persecution. As they suffer they tell others about him. As they suffer they sing his praises. As they suffer they prove themselves blameless. God is glorified in persecution.

The bottom line is this: the Christian who understands God’s reasons for allowing persecution not only expects to be persecuted, but is willing to suffer persecution.

Discussion questions

  1. Persecution can make you more like Jesus. Persecution can deepen your faith. Agree or disagree and why?
  2. The first thing we need to do when facing opposition for our faith is to not be surprised. Read 1 Peter 4:12 Why do you think opposition to our faith often catches us off guard?
  3. The second thing we need to do when facing opposition for our faith is to NOT be afraid. Where/who does fear come from? Read 1 Peter 3:13­-16. Circle the word “worry” and “worship”. Scripture makes it clear that we have a choice. Which is your natural tendency?

Different But The Same

“It was obvious to me that I was different, and it wasn’t until much later in my walk with Christ that I grew to understand that in Him I was also the same.” – Trillia Newbell

Revelation 7:9 says, “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.”  

Trillia Newbill wrote a book entitled “United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity.” In the pages of United, Trillia reveals the deeply moving, transforming power of knowing—really knowing—someone who is equal, yet different. The goal of “United” is to open doors for greater awareness and communication about diversity, race and ethnicity because the gospel of Jesus Christ breaks down the barriers of skin color and ethnicity.

Unfortunately, the word diversity has some baggage. To many, the word diversity is equated to diversity training meetings, quotas or affirmative action. But for the Body of Christ, nothing could be farther from the truth. Diversity in the church isn’t about quotas or filling a gap. In fact, diversity isn’t really about diversity, after all. It’s about love. To celebrate diversity, you must first cultivate a love for people—a radical, wholehearted, grace-motivated love for others.

My prayer is that we will always find our unity in Christ as the truest definition of our lives regardless of our skin color, cultural differences, socio-economic backgrounds, family status, or political leanings. Diversity within the body of Christ has been a linchpin of Christianity from the very beginning and continues today. God does not distinguish between races in His saving love. He created man in His own image, sent His Son to save the world, and saves anyone who believes. To be a child of God requires one thing—Christ—and when we place our faith in Him, we are all counted as equal children. 

Pray that God would give you a radical love for people. Pray that we as a church, would demonstrate the reality of Christ’s culture‑transforming love. Pray that your heart would be stirred to take an interest in others, in people who are different from you, in people who are also made in the image of God. And pray that we will look on people as members of God’s family coming together to worship and serve without thinking about one another as Caucasian, Latino, African-American, or Asian. Pray that we will embrace and celebrate diversity.

 Discussion Questions:

  1. How has the media influenced or affected your understanding and relationship of interacting with people with different backgrounds?
  2. What kind of conversations do you think that Christians need to have that will lead to diversity awareness in the church?

God Calls Us To Be Holy

Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” – Leviticus 19:2.

There are numerous Bible verses about the holiness of God and the goal of living holy lives before God. Exodus 15: 11 says, “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?” I Samuel 2.2 says, “No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” Leviticus 20:26: “You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.” Then there is Hebrews 12:14: “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”

So what does living a holy life mean in practical terms for our life; can we by our own strength make ourselves holy? The answer is no.1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 says, “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” A spiritual, holy life is not produced by our trying or our struggling, but by the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

In 2nd Timothy 1:9, we read these words: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”

To be holy means to be separated to God. Being set apart to God makes us holy. We are not made holy by doing good things. We are made holy, or sanctified, by faith in Christ, just as we are saved by faith. Little by little, as we grow and live with the Lord, we will become more like Him. Paul said, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The Bible gives us specific, practical instruction for this process of sanctification that we can apply to real life.Things such as refusing to repay evil for evil, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all things—to name a few. The Bible makes it clear that every Christian should expect to grow in holiness over the course of his or her life.

As we look at Jesus, think about Jesus, study about Jesus, pray to Jesus, and seek to follow His example, we become more like Him. We begin to think like Him and act like Him. We become like Him because we are set apart to Him. This is true holiness.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does the idea of holiness impact your daily life?
  2. What can we do this week to become more like Jesus? 

All In And All Out

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” – Romans 12:1

The definition of all in is “to be totally committed to something.” Being all in as a Christian is a radical abandonment to the will of God and a wholehearted pursuit of Jesus Christ as our only option. There is no middle ground in our relationship with God.  We should be all in. 

As Christians we are called to be all in and all out. We are called to be set apart. Romans 12:2 says, “set apart.” Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.…” But it is not about being holier than thou or self-righteous. Our goal in seeking to be set apart is not to stand on higher ground so that we can look down on people. Set apart means something different. 

It is easy to look at being set apart in terms of what I did or did not do. It was almost like a contest where we are trying to do more of the right things than others. But if we think in those terms we have it backwards. It is not about looking different than the world.

Acts 4:13 says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13). It does not say they were different from the world. Most followers of Jesus want to be different and they want people to notice they are different. But we should not lose sight of the fact that the goal is not for people to notice that something is different about us, but it’s for them to know the one who made us different. Our goal in being set apart should not be for people to look at us and say, “Wow, look how different they are from the world around them.” Our objective should be for people to look at us and say, “they look like Jesus.” 

Jesus calls us to be in the world, but not of the world. John 17:15-16 says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”  We should not distance ourselves from any contact with our secular culture; we should influence it.

God’s goal in setting us apart is not about taking us out of the world, but about Him taking the world out of us. By pursuing Christ, the things of the world lose their grip on us. He wants to conform us into His image, not distance us from the world.

Discussion questions:

  1. How can a Christian be all in and out at the same time?
  2. What can we do this week to become more all in for Jesus?

Dare To Be Different

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” – Romans 12:2.

Most of us by nature are conformists. We tend to want to blend into the crowd and desire not to stand out as different. As kids we want to conform. And sometimes that is difficult. Who didn’t want a pair of Air Jordan’s when the first model was released in 1985. Not only was Michael Jordan defying gravity and schooling opponents, but his Air Jordans were sought after because everybody wanted to be like Mike. Only people who could afford over $100 for a sports shoe that would last a couple years could be like Mike. Being cool had a steep price.

Today, as adults, we feel similar peer pressure, but the stakes are higher. Now it is cars, homes, memberships, investments, salaries, résumés, benefit packages, and vacation destinations—not to mention all the latest toys, gizmos, and accoutrements. We may call it “staying in style” or “not wanting to fall behind,” but it is the same urge not to stand out as different.

We Christians have another ingredient to add to the mix: our calling. God’s invitation to His family really complicates matters in terms of fitting into society. He has called us out of this world: “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” (John 15:19). God wants us to be different. We are set apart from other people in the world, and asked to steadily widen the gap.

In Romans 12:2, Paul makes a very blunt statement.  John is equally as blunt: “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” (I John 2:15). We are called to be different, to be set apart.

To be set apart means that God has His hand on you for a specific purpose. Today the world has a desperate need for people who are different. One does not obtain that kind of distinctiveness except through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one that issues the drumbeat of the different drummer. He is the one that calls us to stand out of the crowd, to be distinct, separate, unusual. He calls us to be different.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you feel different as a Christian? How?
  2. What can you do this week to stand out? 

What We have In Common Is What Sets Us Apart

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”  – 1 Peter 1:13-16. 

It is a good idea to periodically remind ourselves of our purpose as followers of Jesus Christ. We are not called to be happy, but to be holy. In the unique way God created us and relates to us, we are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness.

The 1 Peter passage is a call to holiness. Holiness has gotten a bad rap over the years. People equate it with religious intransigence and outdated fundamentalism. But nothing could be further from the truth. Being holy is being like God. Because just as the Savior who called us is holy, so we are to be holy in all we do.

This is a passage about practical holiness. To put it that way seems stuffy and boring. But it’s obvious that Peter didn’t feel that way at all. To him, being holy is being like God. And that’s the most exciting thing in the world. Holiness means being so much like God that you change the world. Or to be more precise, holiness means to be so much like God that the world begins to change around you.

But if you doubt my words, would you accept the words of C. S. Lewis? This is what Lewis said about holiness: “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing … it is irresistible. If even ten percent of the world’s population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before a year’s end?”

People who think holiness is dull and old fashioned don’t understand what it really means. When you meet a truly holy person, you are naturally drawn to them. We’ve all known at least one person that is filled with a kind of contagious joy. They are working to be like God, and they are filled with this joy. They are different. They have left their old ways and have been set apart.

To be holy means to be full of God in every part of life. We must emulate who He is. We aren’t talking about behavior modification. We are talking about spiritual transformation. Living holy is not the path to knowing Jesus. Truly knowing Jesus is the path to living holy. We need to be a generation that follows Jesus with the courage to be different, to be holy as He is holy.   

Discussion questions

  1. What does it mean to be holy on a daily basis?
  2. Ask Jesus to show you how to grow in holiness, in the fear of the Lord and in the hope of His return.

The Good, Bad And The Ugly

“Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.” – Job 2:8-10

Given the inescapable fact that we must not only face trials in this life, one of the most difficult questions in times of trial is the question of “why” and “why me?” Our character is often sorely tested without warning; we are often at a loss to even find words to describe our situation, so we sometimes shrug our shoulders and just say, “stuff happens”. Often the situations with no ready made answers are the very situations where God does some of His best work. This is illustrated beautifully in the life of Job.

If you have spent any time in church you have probably heard the story of Job. Job had trusted God in the good times. Now the scene was set to determine if Job would trust God in bad and ugly situations. He endured loss like no one else we know. His home was destroyed, his children were killed, his health was ruined, his finances  were wiped out and his friends offered no support. But after working his way through his questions and struggles, Job eventually resolved to trust God—no matter what. That is when his wife told him to “curse God and die.”  But Job accepted what God sent. He had accepted good; now he was accepting the bad and the ugly.

Job’s response is incredible. What amazing, faithful words while Job sits on an ash heap, scraping his painful sores on his body, contemplating the death of his children and loss of his wealth and possessions. What about us?

We must be ready to receive good from God and we must also be ready to receive the not so good. The question is are we going to happily receive God’s blessings and good things that come in life but then turn away from God when those blessings are removed? Are we going to reject God when life does not go according to our plans? 

Losing a job is traumatic. Finding out you have cancer is devastating. Having a child stray is overwhelming. Yet I suggest to you today that God has created a built in purpose for each trial He allows in our lives. Even those that seem to hurt so much, even and especially for them. Our life and our circumstances are in God’s hand. He holds all things together, and He fits pieces together, that don’t seem to make sense. He holds us secure, safe, close. God will never allow a trial without any good coming from it, somehow, in some way. There is purpose in trials: God is still in control. He has not forsaken us but wants us to trust Him so we can mature.

God has a purpose in whatever we face, day in, day out, good, bad, great times, and tough trials, in it all.

 Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you have a present trial? How is it affecting you? 
  2. What do you need to change to handle your trial the way God wants you to handle it?
  3. What will you need to do if you want to accomplish God’s goals for your trial?

I Want More

“To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid “big” sins—is this passionate, wholehearted love for God? —François Fénelon, The Seeking Heart

In the movie based on the Charles Dickens novel, 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist falls in with a group of street-urchin pickpockets led by the Artful Dodger and masterminded by the criminal Fagin. One of the famous scenes from the movie is Oliver, desperate from hunger, rises from the table, walks up to the master, bowl and spoon in hand and says “please, sir, I want some more.”

People say it all the time: I want to want God more. I want more of Him, I don’t ever want to feel I have “enough God.” “I’m just not sure how to go about getting more than I already have.” The how can be different for different people, but one thing is sure; we will never get more of God by sitting still and hoping spiritual growth will come to us. It requires action. Wanting more of God is a purposeful pursuit. We don’t need to pray about doing something that God mandates in the Bible: love, serve, go. He’s already made it clear: yes, a follower of Jesus should be doing that. But what about the times when things aren’t going very well. Should we want more of God then? The answer is still yes.

Wait a second: What about the times we have struggled through “dark valleys”—times of trial and grief? Trials knock us down and surround us. We toss and turn at night, wondering what we are going to do. It starts to feel like we’re Oliver who got smacked in the side of the head with a ladle when he asked for more gruel. It is in these times when we need more; more faith, more trust, more of a relationship with God.

Isaiah 43: 2-3 says, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

We want more of God and more of His transformative work in our lives. We want more God when our faith and trust in God is stretched and grows stronger during trials. If we want to find God, that’s where God will be. The fact is we can see God in our trials. We can move closer and closer to God in our trials. We should want more of God in trials. We should hunger for more of Him. 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify your biggest trial right now and consider this question: How can this help me find more of God?
  2. What are some steps to have more of God in our lives?

Faith Revealed In Trials

“No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere: I see Heaven’s glories shine, And faith shines equal, arming me from fear. —Emily Brontë”

The Bible often speaks of the importance of faith in knowing God. For example, Ephesians 2:8 (ESV) teaches, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” First Corinthians 13:13 adds, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” But why do faith and trials seem to go hand in hand?

We all face trials. These trials have the power to either produce a barrier or enable us to grow closer to God. The choice is up to us. Either we will remain anchored to God or lose some of our connection with Him. 

James 1:2-4 says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Allow the phrase, “consider it an opportunity for great joy” to settle in for a second. Think about past trials in your life. Think about the trials you may be facing today. Imagine some of the trials that are on the horizon. So what is our first response when trials come our way? It’s hard to imagine “joy” being the initial reaction. Joy is not the emotion that best describes your mindset when you consider your trials, past, present and future.

In most cases, our first instinct is to devise a strategy or method of eliminating the trial completely. The second instinctive response is to run. It can certainly seem like the prudent thing to do. We don’t have the time nor the inclination to deal with trials with all that is going on. But Scripture commands us to count our trials as joy and run at them head-on for the sake of being transformed into a faith-filled, steadfast child of God. God sees trials as a chance to produce character within us, not as a circumstance intended to harm us or derail His plans for our lives. 

The greatest gift we’ve been given in the face of trials is faith. When problems are a head wind in our life, it is hard to see any benefit. Seeing the benefit requires faith. We have to believe that the end justifies the means, that God has an outcome as good as the trial is bad. 

Hebrews 10:35-38 says, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith…”   That faith is revealed in our trials.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Some of life’s deepest and most lasting lessons come to us wrapped in pain. Agree or disagree and why?
  2. What are the two necessary beneficial responses to God’s trials in our lives?

Faux Faith

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”  – Deuteronomy 31:6.

Before he was a icon, Michelangelo began his career forging ancient Roman sculpture. He created a new sculpture out of marble, then intentionally broke it, buried it in a garden, and dug it up, declaring it to be a lost Roman antique. Throughout history people have been trying to pass fakes off as the real thing. When it comes to faith, faking it doesn’t help—it hurts.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” What does faking faith look like? Imagine a relationship with someone you don’t quite trust. There is something about them. You don’t tell them that you don’t trust them, you prefer to fake it when you are around them. You put on the smile and pretend that everything is cool. When we fake faith, we do the same thing to God. We just don’t trust God as much as we should, but we are still going through the motions. 

It reminds me a little of a sport that is not for the faint of heart; bungee jumping. People stand very still on the edge of the bridge, breathing heavily or shaking a little. There is one overlying concern. “Will this cord support my weight? Or in other words, is bungee jumping safe? There are a few who get cold feet at the last moment. But in spite of all the collective apprehension, most jump. Some of the people who will  jump off bridges hundreds of feet in the air have no faith in God. They think it is illogical to trust their lives in something or someone they cannot see. They would not take a leap of faith into the unknown, yet they don’t hesitate to trust their life and their future on a man-made cord.  

In trials we can feel like we are tied to a bungee cord, hanging over the side of a bridge and the ground is rushing up to meet us. The difference is that as followers of Jesus, we know we can have absolute faith in the cord we are connected to (God). We are concerned that we will jump off a bridge and we will splat on the ground (financially because the bills are piling up, or a illness is threatening the life we developed, or a relationship is falling apart). Faith is trusting God in those moments. In the midst of a trial when we feel alike we are about to hit the ground, we need to trust God to work his perfect will. We finally look to the heavens and ask God, “when are you going to let me off this bungee cord?” The answer might be “when you trust me enough to stop blinking.”

When trials occur in our life is when we need to have faith in God. God is worthy of our trust.

Discussion questions:

  1. What does real faith look like?
  2. What can we do short-term to improve our faith?