HAVE NO FEAR OF PERSECUTION

The Call to Rejoice in Persecution

We are called to endure and rejoice when we face persecution.

See 1 Peter 4:12–14...

See Matthew 5:10-12...

See Acts 5:40-42...

Reasons to Rejoice

The truth will be revealed. (Verses 26-27)

Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (See 1 Corinthians 4:5, Matthew 5:14-16)

Home schooled Christians, for better, mostly, and for worse, live the first part of their lives in a bubble. Many of you want to be pastors, missionaries, teachers, people who are a light to the nations. You want an education that can ready you for this, and Bethlehem gives that in three ways that compound on each other: the education itself first, secondly the majority of the faculty either being or having been pastors, and lastly the host of opportunities to serve and be mentored even while you study. That last point deserves to be highlighted, because while there are also official opportunities to serve, you will be living on the mission field. If you want to be a light to the nations, leave your bubble and come to Minneapolis, where the nations have come to you.

The strongest objection I have heard to coming to Bethlehem is that the city is too dangerous, which is a real problem to consider. I myself have had my car stolen, I've had a stranger try to fight me in the street, and I have been chased in the night while trying to get home from work. I have even heard of worse happening to other students, so I understand the force of the objection, but let me ask you this: for those of you who want to be a witness for Christ, is the thought that something bad could happen to you along the way something you want to avoid? The apostles rejoiced to be counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, and if something happened to me because I was in a dangerous city, there only to learn and tell of God, then I would be glad to suffer for Christ, too. I hope that nothing happens to you if you come, and yet I also hope that wherever you go you have a heart to bear anything for the God who bore everything for you.

2. Our Lord is greater than our enemies. (Verse 28)

Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

3. We are precious to our Heavenly Father. (Verses 29-31)

See Matthew 6:25-30...

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

4. Christ will acknowledge us if we acknowledge Him. (Verses 32-33)

Romans 10:9–10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 1:16)

Matthew 7:20 “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

5. Christ is worth it. (Verses 34-37)

See Philippians 3:8-10...

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

6. The life I gain will be much better than the one I lose. (Verses 38-39)

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Psalm 84:10 “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot

7. We will have a sure reward. (Verses 40-42)

Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”

Matthew 6:20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

See Mark 10:29-30...