Are you ready for rejection not recognition?

Introduction

Jesse did an awesome job of setting up why we are persecuted.

I want to start with giving you guys some statistics and some different stories in the past and in the present to get your attention as we talk about “How we may be persecuted and how do we respond to rejection when we want recognition?”

The latest study has shown that 3 out of every 4 martyrs for the Christian faith today are being struck down in Nigeria.

Since 2009 in Nigeria 43K Christians have been killed, 18.5K have been abducted, and 17.5K churches have been attacked.

Every day on average 13 Christians are killed for their faith in Christ.

Every day on average 12 churches or Christian buildings are being attacked.

Every day 12 Christians are unjustly imprisoned because of their faith, and another 5 are abducted.

Worldwide there were 4,761 martyrdoms registered in 2020, which is up 60 percent from 2019 at 2,983. In Nigeria alone there were 3,530. Thats more than all of 2019 all by itself.

Read from the internet a few of the stories of martyrdom.

You might see this list that I just described as all about oppression but I see it as a testament to the resilience of the church.

In the list of the top 50 most dangerous countries to be a Christian there are approximately 309 million believers…which is up from 260 million just last year!

How are we persecuted for our faith?

The persecutions that we may endure as a follower of Christ.

Read off the persecutions that we will endure then come back up to this.Persecution happens because we live a life so gratifying to Christ that the world turns on us. Do not be surprised when persecution happens because you are living out your faith. Persecution also means that you have to be sharing the gospel with others, which also means you have to be involved in peoples lives that do not match up with your worldview, which means you are called to go to those that do not think like you and live a life so radically counter cultural and tell of Jesus so often to them that it either brings about persecution OR salvation…and sometimes both! Sometimes those that ridicule you may be the same ones that you see in the baptismal pools two years from now! Christ died to take the curse from us, not the cross.

It is seen in apparent disrespect

Rejected by company

In ridicule

Reviling

Slandering

Injuring

Destroying

If we are God’s gold, it’s not strange to be cast into the fire.

Read 1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

2. The causes of persecution

The degenerate state of the world

Saints carry Christ in their hearts, and the cross on our shoulders.

Christ and His cross are never seperate.

The influence that Satan exercises over the minds of men

If Christ’s head was crowned with thorns, why do we believe that ours will be crowned with roses?

Read Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

The conduct of Christians in the world

Hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesse mentioned this last week but when you live your life to make Christ name known and as a result you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness you’re going to come across people who resent you, revile you, and reject you.

John Piper said it well in his book Don’t Waste Your Life “Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.” and “I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxeries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.”

How do we respond?

The manner in which we are supposed to endure suffering…REJOICE…but why?

Our time on this earth that we may be rejected and despised is so small in scope to the time in eternity with Christ.

It is too much for a Christian to have two heavens-one here on earth and one after.

It is so easy for us to become so caught up in a popularity contest, our need to be liked, or our desire to avoid confrontation with others at all cost. (AND DO NOT USE THIS AS SOME PERMISSION TO SEEK OUT CONFRONTATION, FIGHTS, AND USELESS RANTS TOWARDS OTHERS) But through the CONSISTENT prayers prayed, truth proclaimed, and humble hospitality displayed we will experience opposition for the sake of the gospel and face it with praises on our lips.

Tim Tebow example.

Charles Spurgeon “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

We suffer for a righteous cause.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We suffer for an eternal purpose.

Timothy Keller- “Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.”

We rejoice because we can suffer in confidence of our example in Christ.

Illustration about watching someone on youtube vs. being taught to do something by the person who created that thing.

If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him. 2 Timothy 2:8-13 “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful---for he cannot deny himself.”

The encouragement

We join in the fellowship with the persecuted prophets that went before us in God’s plan of salvation

Show picture of Draymond Green. Sometimes you find yourself in company that you don’t feel worthy…but when you’re doing your part as an ambassador of Christ you join into the restorative work that God has been doing in peoples hearts since Genesis 3.

Read Hebrews 11

John Piper “All heroes are just shadows of Christ.”

We possess the kingdom of heaven when persecuted for Christ’s sake.

Great is our reward in heaven

Conclusion

Pray for the top 10 nations that face dangerously high amounts of persecution and dangerously high amounts of violence in persecution.

Pray for yourself to share the gospel and live a life worthy of it…and welcome persecution when boldly standing for what the cause of Christ.