The Benefits of Persicution

Introduction

Acts 8:1–3 LEB

1 And Saul was agreeing with his murder. Now there happened on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was attempting to destroy the church. Entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and delivered them to prison.

Pray

With the death of the first Christian – Stephen, The persecution begins as the Master of Lies tries to grind out and squish the truth of Jesus the Christ. Something that he is still doing in areas of the world.

In other areas The Master of lies just corrupts the faith. As he really began to do when Constantine adopted Christianity and made it into a money making entity.

To All the World

This persecution forces the Christian faith to develop into its own religion instead of an offshoot of the Jewish faith. And Christians and Jews separate themselves from each other. And the Christians in fear of their lives begin to scatter. Giving up their homes, land, sometimes wealth. Leaving their friends. Being separated from their families. Forsaking it all not to go out and evangelize by choice.

But because the persecution is so great that they can’t hide they can’t lay low, They need to flee.

But this persecution instead of having the desired effect of destroying the truth. It causes the truth to be spread. Because as they fled they didn’t stop believing. They didn’t stop following the great commission, To go and make disciples of all nations.

They kept teaching and proclaiming. Even though they learned a bitter lesson with the death of Stephen. They might have to actually lay down their lives for Jesus. And Saul is doing his best to see every Christian imprisoned or killed.

What a hard man Saul would have been to love. As a Christian commanded to love your enemy and he is leading the charge to kill. Death, pain, suffering, persecution.

May have been the best thing that may have happened for the movement of The Christian faith and the stopping of it is probably the worst thing that could happen to the church. That’s a hard thing to say because I don’t want to have to worry about being shot for my faith. I don’t like the idea of being fired or thrown in prison for what I believe in. I like being able to believe in Jesus freely without fear of persecution or judgment, And I thank God for it regularly.

But it was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the Christian faith

Why?

The Faith Spreads

It spreads the faith

“I am not going to join up with a religion if I am going to die”

Comfortable

But with the Christian faith comes a cause and a purpose. Something that people die to have: Gangs, Military, Politics. People want a purpose and a cause to fight for. One of the reasons the American church is dying is we have forgotten the cause. Traded it for comfort

Look at the Generations

60-70 had a cause

70-80 anger because it failed

80-90 lost no cause

90-2000 fear of starting something new

2000-2010 looking for a cause

2010-present fighting for causes again

True Decision

Because while it is persecuted there is a true decision to be made

Do I want to believe this and face the consequences And it makes the faith that much more alive. That is one of the reasons why the largest areas of growth in the Christian faith are areas where Christians are persecuted. Not only does it make the decisions real it keeps out the syncretism. The joining up of false or pagan religions with the Christian faith.

Example:

Roman Catholic church no longer a persecuted entity.

People who didn’t even know who Jesus was became catholic so that they could be part of the group that had land, had power, had wealth. It was corrupted by people who wanted in.

Because it was a fad

Because it was an easy job

Because it had prestige

Because it had money

Christmas, Easter, Halloween. ll fun and what not and even may represent in our own hearts holy things. But they got their start from these pagan beliefs Joining together with Christianity

With persecution we ask questions like how can a good God allow such evil?

But God allows sin and corruption as we have chosen the path of Hell on earth. God uses even the act of Persecution to further the Kingdom.

In The World Today

Over 340 million Christians living in places where they experience high levels of persecution and discrimination

4,761 Christians killed for their faith

4,488 churches and other Christian buildings attacked

4,277 believers detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned

1 in 8 Christians worldwide experience high levels of persecution

Facing Persecution for different reasons:

Authoritarian governments who view Christianity as a threat to power

Suspicion of anything outside the majority cultural faith

Extremist groups who want to destroy Christians

Official and cultural domination of a single religion

Religious freedom is a disrespected human right

Next Steps

Pray

Support

Go

Prayer

Bibliography

https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/

https://www.persecution.com/