Persecuted Church: Hostility to the Gospel

I want to share with you a report from Open Doors, a ministry that supports the persecuted church around the world since 1955. The insert in your bulletin provides a link to this organization as well as The Voice of the Martyrs - another similar organization.

Open Doors produces and publishes the World Watch List - an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.

Coming in at #1 is North Korea.

What does persecution look like in North Korea?

If your Christian faith is discovered in North Korea, you could be killed on the spot. If you aren't killed, you will be deported to a labour camp and treated as a political criminal. You will be punished with years of hard labour that few survive. And it's not only you who will be punished: North Korean authorities are likely to round up your extended family and punish them too, even if your family members aren't Christians. 

There is no church life in North Korea. It's impossible to gather for worship or prayer, and even secret worship and prayer is at great risk. Official spies could inform on you, if they have any indication that you are a Christian, and so could your neighbours or teachers.

Recognising any deity beyond the Kim family is considered a threat to the country's leadership. ‘Anti-reactionary thought laws’ were enacted in December 2020. These made it even clearer that being a Christian or owning a Bible is a serious crime and will be severely punished. While a handful of churches exist for visitors in the capital, Pyongyang, these serve for propaganda purposes only and are no indication of religious freedom in the country.

Even North Korean citizens who have escaped the country are not safe. Refugees in other countries, particularly China, are at risk of being rounded up and sent back to appalling punishments. Chinese spies work with North Korean authorities to return refugees, including Christians. If it is discovered that a North Korean has become a Christian, or has heard the gospel or come into contact with Christians, then they will be singled out for severe punishment.

A North Korean Christian, using the alias Joo Min, says “I know the risks involved. If I am caught, I could end up in a labour camp, paying a heavy price for being a Christian now"

For the next three weeks, I will be preaching a series on the persecuted Church. We will listen to what Jesus had to say about following Him and we will examine how the apostles dealt with persecution within the Church.

Early Church Father and Christian Apologist Tertullian, who lived in the 2nd and 3rd century, once wrote the memorable phrase: “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” He was saying that if you want to know what grew the Body of Christ, what caused the gospel to spread like wildfire - it was Christians who were willing to die for their faith. From 54 AD to around 305 AD, a succession of Roman Emperors persecuted Christians - doing all they could to squash this growing movement of Jesus followers. Emperor Nero was one of the worst, and earliest to do so. He would impale Christians on stakes, light them on fire and use the burning bodies to light his outdoor garden parties.

And yet Christianity continued to grow dramatically. Tyrants have always used the threat of torture and death to control the masses - but many devout Christians were not afraid to die. They had peace knowing that to die is to be with the Lord. They willingly shared in his suffering knowing they would also share in his glory.

Polycarp, he was a disciple of the apostle John and became bishop of Smyrna, was was burned at the stake and pierced with a spear for refusing to burn incense to the Roman emperor. He was given the opportunity to renounce his faith in Jesus and bow to the Emperor, and his response was this:

“For eighty and six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong, How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked."

One of the coolest Christian quotes ever spoken. Would we have the same mindset if that choice was put before us?

The first signs of persecution of Jesus’ disciples was from the hands of the Jewish leaders who had rejected Jesus and had him crucified. They had hoped by killing him - his disciples would scatter in fear and this movement Jesus had started would quickly dissipitate. The resurrection messed up their evil plan and Pentecost caught them completely offguard. Suddenly, this ragtag team of uneducated Jesus’ disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, were out there boldly proclaiming the resurrected Jesus as Savior of the world and performing the same miracles that Jesus did.

The first arrest came following a miraculous healing. Peter and John were heading into the Temple for prayer and came across a beggar - listen to what happened in Acts 3:2-10

Acts 3:2–10 ESV

And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

This miraculous sign caught the attention of the people. The Spirit of God had set the stage, and now Peter steps onto it to deliver the truth in boldness. He asks the crowd, why do you stand here dumbfounded - as if John and I have the power to do such a thing as this? Our God has glorified the One you handed over to be killed - Jesus the Christ. You denyed him, you killed the Author of Life. It is by our faith in the name of Jesus that this lame man now walks. What you did was done in ignorance - but God used it to fulfill what was foretold long ago. Peter then delivered the good news:

Acts 3:19–21 CEB

Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Then the Lord will provide a season of relief from the distress of this age and he will send Jesus, whom he handpicked to be your Christ. Jesus must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things, about which God spoke long ago through his holy prophets.

Thousands of people responded by turning back to God - this is what Spirit-filled revival looks like. And the devil hates it. And those more concerned about retaining power, influence, control hate it. Those who follow a God of their own design hate it.

That is why oppostion is inevitable. This is what we heard in the reading out of John’s gospel - the world hates Jesus, therefore, the world will hate those who belong to Him. When Jesus speaks of the world in this context - he is talking about the corrupt, sinful value system that those who live in rebellion against God embrace. Satan is the “god of this world” - as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4:4 when he says “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

As the world lives in rebellion against God’s will, opposition to those who follow God’s will is inevitable.

According to Bruce Milne in his book The Message of John, there are three sources of this opposition:

It is because of our new nature. When we repent of our sin and confess Jesus as Lord, the Spirit moves in and we are transformed to a new creation. We are now children of God, not children of this world. Milne writes:

The Message of John (ii) ‘So I Send You’—Discourse B (15:1–16:33)

Christ died for the world and the Father still loves it, but it remains in a state of spiritual rebellion against him. If we were still of the world we would be ‘loved’ by it because the world, not surprisingly, loves its own kind (v19). But we have been chosen … out of the world (19) and are not part of the opposition.

2. It is because of our association with Jesus

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”

As a disciple of Jesus, we share in his life - the good and the bad. We experience the joy and goodness of fellowship with other believers and with God, but we also share in the suffering that Jesus himself experienced. We can expect the world to treat us in the same way that it treated Jesus during his earthly ministry. If we are living out this new life, and we are faithful to His commands, then those living in opposition to God, as Milne notes, will intuitively recognize Christ in us. Some will be receptive to our message, many will not.

I know there are times when I come across someone - maybe a clerk at a store or a waiter or waitress at a restaurant - and just by their demeanor - something about their spirit connects with my spirit and I know they are a child of God. And likewise, there are folks I have come across who by expression, word or action reveal that what was in them does not like what is in me.

3. It is Because we expose evil

John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

Again, Bruce Milne writes:

The Message of John (ii) ‘So I Send You’—Discourse B (15:1–16:33)

A third source of opposition is our exposure of evil. Jesus disclosed evil during his ministry by his words and his works, including his miracles. He is the light of the world by whose coming the shameful deeds of darkness are exposed. As Christians we are called to be ‘the light of the world’. If we are living consistent lives our ‘works’ and ‘words’ will regularly contradict the lifestyles of those around us. By our code of practice in the workplace, by our attitudes to work, by our personal ethical standards, by our life-goals and values, we shall inevitably, without consciously setting out to do so, expose the unfruitful works of darkness. That comes from

Our new nature, our association with Jesus, and our exposure of evil will inevitablly lead to oppostion. That oppostion can lead to some level of persecution. We are still blessed here in the USA to live out our faith without suffereing severe persecution. But that is not true everywhere.

The Message of John (ii) ‘So I Send You’—Discourse B (15:1–16:33)

It is estimated that in the twentieth century to date somewhere in the region of 26 million Christians have lost their lives for Christ’s sake, in places like China, the Soviet bloc, Cambodia, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda.

And while we should be thankful that we have enshrined in our Constitution the freedom to practice our religion, we should also be concerned if in our day to day lives we expereince little to no opposition. If that is the case, then it may very well mean that we are no threat to Satan because we are like the ways of the world.

The 15th chapter of John’s gospel finishes with Jesus telling his disciples about the coming of the Spirit.

John 15:26–27 ““But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Do you bear witness to Christ? Do you show Jesus to a world that is hostile to God’s will?

Let us pray for the persecuted Church.

Lord, we pray that you will bring peace and justice to countries like North Korea, Iran, Yemen, China, Pakistan, and other countires where Christian persecution is a way of life. We pray that the cries of Your people will not be forgotten. God we ask that you protect Christians living in places where they could be attacked by religious extremists. We pray for protection for those Christian whose very lives expose the evil of cartels, gangs, corruption, and destructive philosophies that turn people against God. We pray that the underground churches around the world would flourish, and believers would be able to live as salt and light in an incredibly dark places.

Amen.