Being the Church - Called to Suffer.

That the Church is called by God to suffer is incontrovertible:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, 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. (Romans 8:16-17)

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him. (Philippians 1:29)

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)

Question 1 - Which of these verses particularly strikes you? Why?

Linking the Learning

This is the eighth in our series of studies Being the Church. Previously we have considered that we are:

Called to be Together

Called to be Witnesses

Called to be in the Spirit

Called to be Disciples

Called to be Worshipers

Called to Care

Called to be Different

And now…Called to Suffer.

Suffering is a condition of human experience and it is unavoidable.

It may be physical; psychological; emotional; spiritual or social and it hurts!

We as Christian are not immune to suffering and indeed The soteriological force of the Christian faith depends upon its relevance to this fundamental human condition of suffering.

Christianity must open a way for us to face suffering, not as an anomaly or a momentary obstacle on the way to a place where God will be present to us but as an enduring feature of human life in which God is with us.

1. Christianity embodies suffering:

It is embodied in ts redemptive story - Christ suffered and died for our sins, but it also provides ultimate victory over sin and death, anticipating through the resurrection and eternal life a time when suffering will be no more! - Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We are not exempt from such suffering, but the wonderful promises God has given us offer us healing and deliverance and protection

Question 2 - How does the knowledge of Christ’s sufferings help us to suffer and help us to comfort others who suffer?

2. Christianity embraces suffering:

To “share in His sufferings” for the most part, refers to suffering persecution and opposition and hardship for the gospel, and references to this are found in almost every book of the New Testament.

The church was willing to suffer for Christ. It embraced the idea that this was part of its calling and indeed its privilege. Jesus in Matthew 5:10-12 suggests that the persecuted life, far from leading to sadness and despair, leads to blessing! It acknowledged that Jesus had warned them that it would be so. - Matthew 16:24-26;Mark 13:7-13. - that they should not expect any different treatment to that which he himself has suffered - Joh 15:18-25;16:1-4).

Indeed Paul’s attitude to persecution is to embrace it saying that he wants to “know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. “(Phil 3:10-11). He talked of his regretful remembrance of his own persecuting days as a persecutor of “the Church of God” (Acts 22:4; 26:9–11; Gal 1:22–24), but also a deliberate acceptance of risks in obedience to Christ (Acts 20:22–24; 21:13), warning that tribulation is inseparable from discipleship (Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3; 12:12; 1 Thes 3:4), and assuring believers that in every form of tribulation, even if it leads ultimately to death, Christians are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Rom 8:35–37),

And Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:12-19 that suffering for a Christian is neither unusual or unexpected but instead he says “rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”(vs 13-15).

So when the apostles were flogged for preaching the good news about Jesus, Acts 5:41 records that, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” They were being identified with their Savior; they were being treated the same way their Master had been treated; they were sharing in His sufferings!

“Persecution for Christians is not a possibility, it's a promise, it's not a maybe, it's a surely! Following Jesus can mean finding the trouble you've been looking for!”― Kingsley Opuwari Manuel

Question 3 - How does the fact that suffering is inevitable if we are to follow Jesus make us feel and challenge our faith?

3. Christianity is THE WAY of suffering:

Now the fact that the early followers of Jesus considered themselves “Christians” (Acts 11:26; 26:28) or members of “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22) shows that the emphasis was on lifestyle practices as much as their beliefs and reminds us that they were distinctive in the way they exercised their faith.

They chose to follow to example of Jesus and just as He had been persecuted they knew that they would be also.

As the Acts of the Apostles clearly reveals, conflict and persecution was a feature from the outset of the emerging movement. (see Acts 4:1-3;4:14-21;5:17-41;7:54-60;8:1-3;12:1-4).

However this persecution led to church growth - The Church in Antioch in Syria was founded during persecution - Acts 11:19 following the scattering of believers from Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen

Indeed Tertullian the Second Century AD Apologist of the Christian faith from Carthage, complaining of the unjust nature of persecution said: “Therefore we conquer in dying; we seize the victory in the very moment that we are overcome. Bound to a stake, we are burned on a heap of wood. This is the attitude in which we conquer, it is our victory robe, it is our triumphal entry...The more we are mown down by you, the more we grow. The blood of Christians is seed...all who contemplate it want to find out what is at the bottom of it; all who find out embrace our doctrines; and all who have embraced them, desire to suffer in order to become part of the fullness of God’s grace, and obtain God’s complete forgiveness by giving in exchange for their blood. For that secures the remission of all offenses. And this is why it is that we give you thanks, on the very spot, for your sentences on us. As the divine and human are ever opposed to each other, when we are condemned by you, we are acquitted by the Highest.”(Apologia 50).

So WHY did the Church suffer:

a. It was “an imperium in imperio” (A State within a State).

meaning that it was an Empire within an Empire or a State within a State and it claimed universality and exclusivity. It was a faith of “no compromise”, yielding to Christ even if it cost lands; freedom or lives! Faith is “warfare”, fighting the good fight and finishing the race. (see 1 Tim 6:12).

b. It worshipped Jesus as Lord (1 Cor 12:3;Phil 2:11)

and Messiah and invited the wrath of the Jews! This because to them it threatened monotheism and the status of the authority of Jewish leaders as the sole interpreters of the law and of matters of faith and practice. Also the preaching of a crucified Messiah whose death was publicly blamed on the Jewish leaders was highly provocative. This led to a systematic persecution which resulted in beatings; imprisonment; martyrdom on the part of Stephen and James at the hands of King Agrippa in AD 44, showing that it was carried out by both religious and political leaders. They also stirred up hatred of Christians throughout the Roman world where they had a sizeable presence - Acts 13:44-50;14:1-6,19;Acts 17:1-13;18:4-12;23:12-15). The Jews finally excommunicated Christians at the Council of Jamnia in AD80 which meant that they were finally distinguished from Judaism and therefore could no longer be regarded as a Jewish sect and tolerated by the Roman authorities (so Acts 24:5-14).

c. It renounced idolatry(1 Cor 8:4-5;1Cor 10:14; Eph 4:4-6;1Joh 5:21).

which was widespread in the Graeco-Roman world putting it in further conflict with the Roman World. Conversion to Christianity could have had massive socioeconomic ramifications on believers and those who managed the economy and running of pagan temples. Acts 19:23-41 demonstrates how difficult it was for the church to reject idols, leading to riots and beatings and imprisonments.

d. It threatened the Roman Peace:

Initially Rome tolerated Christianity (so Acts 18:14-16). Indeed Paul received Roman protection at Paphos, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, and Jerusalem from governors Felix and Festus and their adviser Herod Agrippa, and from the centurion conveying him to Rome. This explains Paul’s confident appeal to Caesar which could result in an imperial acquittal ensuring Christian freedom from harassment throughout the empire. However this protection soon gave way to fierce opposition. By AD64, in Rome, Tacitus tells us that such was Christian unpopularity that Nero could successfully make them scapegoats for the fire that he himself set (see also Suetonius) and he also introduced a law that prescribed Christianity in the Empire - “He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious superstition”(Lives of the Caesar’s chapter 16. Nero), though this was not always carried out across the various Provinces of the Empire, it depended on the whim of the Governor of a Province. Towards the end of the century, faced with a growing church and political unrest, the state required public “worship” of “the genius of Rome” alongside any other religious rites, and in Domitian’s reign (AD 81–96) this became worship of the living emperor, with elaborate temples and an official priesthood. When Christians refused, acknowledging Jesus alone as Lord, official, and increasingly barbaric, persecution began. In Bithynia, Pliny tells us that by c. AD 112 persistence in Christianity was a capital offence. This was carried out on the pretext of specific offences, such as:

cannibalism, (eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus);

incendiarism (riots caused by preaching or conversions that threatened idolatry - so Acts 17:6-7);

immorality (their “love feasts”)

incest, (they married their brothers and sister in Christ);

magic (miracles),

illicit assembly (not legally permitted) and majestas (in their case, refusal to sacrifice to the numen of the emperor) and

atheism (not worshipping false gods).

That Christians were accused of all kinds of evil deeds is apparent in 1 Pet 2:12;4:14-17.

Punishment was often harsh - Heb 10:32-34).

Slander was due to their blameless living and discipline - Joh 15:19.

All this, said Peter is because you are sharing Christ’s suffering and you must “stand fast”

As John Stott said: Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.

And as John Chappell said: “The devil doesn't persecute those who aren't making a godly difference in the world.”

In total the persecution under the Roman Emperors lasted around 300 years.

those under Nero and Domitian were capricious outbursts of cruelty and tyranny and those under Decius, Valerian and Diocletian were systematic attempts to extinguish Christianity throughout the empire.

But at any time any Christian might be accused before a Roman magistrate and suffer the extreme penalty for his faith.

That is was whimsical is told by Justin Martyr who tells of this account during the reign of Emperor Trajan. “at any time any Christian might be accused before a Roman magistrate and suffer the extreme penalty for his faith.”

Indeed during the reign of Valerian an Edict of AD258 stated that he “commanded that all bishops, presbyters, and deacons should be put to death; that all senators and magistrates should lose their property and rank, and then, if they refused to abjure Christ, they should be put to death; and that members of the imperial household who were or ever had been Christians were to be sent to work in chains on the imperial estates.”

It was not until the Edict of Milan in 313 AD that Emperor Constantine and Licinus met and “give full toleration to the Christian faith ordering that all places of worship taken from the Christians should be restored without delay or charge, that any loss they had suffered should be made good and that Christian ministers should be released from all burdensome municipal offices.”

Christianity became the sole religion of the Empire in AD 323 when Constantine became the sole emperor in West and East and the Church enjoyed peace!

Question 4 - What are some of the value systems of the world today that might bring persecution to Christians in the West?

Application for Today:

The Church has suffered and will suffer. It is part of its calling!

Approximately 260 million Christians suffer high to severe levels of persecution in our world today!

Every day, 8 Christians worldwide are killed because of their faith.

Every week, 182 churches or Christian buildings are attacked.

And every month, 309 Christians are imprisoned unjustly.

The top 10 hardest countries in which to follow Jesus are:

1. North Korea 2. Afghanistan 3. Somalia 4. Libya 5. Pakistan 6. Eritrea 7. Sudan 8. Yemen 9. Iran 10. India

And in North Korea - One believer was arrested when the police found a Bible in his home. He was badly beaten and imprisoned. A Christian friend of his said, “I’ve known this man for a long time. When he came to faith, he made a decision that one day he would die for Christ. Every Christian in North Korea has made that choice. My friend knew that one day he could get caught and on that day he had to be loyal to Jesus. I am convinced he can take the suffering because he constantly reminds himself of the joy that is set before him.”

And in Afghanistan - “We are not afraid but strong and hopeful. We know He will come again. That is why there is so much pain and suffering. That is why there is persecution. He is coming back and those who do not know Him need Him in their lives. For now, we, His followers, need to live with thankful, prayerful hearts.”

And in Pakistan - “We [celebrate Easter] knowing that at any time a suicide bomber can come and disrupt our service, our worship, our praying. Then I think: Will it really be disrupted or will I be sent into the fullness of worship?” – Former Muslim, Mother of two

“ Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.”(John Calvin)

Question 5 - How can we best support Christians who are persecuted around the world today?