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For to you it has
been granted for Christ's sake,
not only to believe in Him, but
also to suffer for His sake.
-Philippians 1:29
Do you ever find yourself being disappointed, perplexed, or
frustrated with people and with the circumstances of life? Does
your degree of disappointment vary from shrugging your shoulders
to wanting to turn your phaser on "disintegrate" while
rotating in a circle? I struggle with this from time to time
way too often. Beam
me up, Jesus!
As sure as the sun comes up
tomorrow (I feel a song coming on!), family and friends inevitably
let me down. Technology lets me down, automobiles let me down,
government lets me down, restaurants let me down, the Denver
Broncos let me down, and of course, I let me down. I think,
however, that I am beginning to catch on as to why I put myself
through this ringer…my expectations of others and for the
circumstances of life are ridiculously high. Are you with me? If
you’re not, I’ll be disappointed. Aaaaargh!! There I go again!
Bet the farm on this fact of
life: the level of expectation you have for another person or
thing is directly proportional to the level of disappointment,
frustration, shock, anger, resentment, etc. that you will
experience when that person or thing ultimately lets you down. Low
expectations will result in low disappointment. High expectations
will result in high disappointment. And just like the "Free
Fall" ride at Six Flags, the higher your level of
expectations ascend, the further up your throat your tummy will go
on the way down.
Nowhere has God proven this to me
more than when I attempt to share the gospel of the grace of God
(Acts 20:24). You see, for the longest time, my expectations for
the majority of those who heard this amazing gospel was that they
would do nothing short of spontaneously combusting from the sheer
joy, thrill, and excitement of discovering what Jesus has
accomplished for them through the cross. My expectations were 3rd
heaven high! Have you ever felt your stomach hit the inside of
your skull?
Now no one has yet accused me of
being a tremendously effective or entertaining communicator, so
part of the responses I have received via rotten tomatoes, spit
balls, Molotov cocktails, and an occasional trap door behind the
pulpit are not without justification. However, there seems to be a
consistent backlash from many of the individuals and groups,
unrelated to my lack of eloquence, which can easily be
characterized as hostile. The frightening thing about these types
of responses is that many, if not most, come from those who claim
to be a brother or sister in Christ. So why the antagonism, Lord?
Why the contentiousness? Father, what is wrong with my
expectations?!…
Therefore do not be ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me
in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.
2 Tim. 1:8
"Remember the word that I
said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My
word, they will keep yours also.
John 15:20
Doink! It’s remarkable what a
little truth will do to fine-tune our expectations. Did you know
that if you were to study through the New Testament, you would
discover that there are over 90 times when various forms of the
words, "persecute" and "suffer", are used?
But, what is especially interesting to note is that over 75 of
those 90 times the persecution and suffering alluded to is that
which is inflicted upon those who proclaim the gospel! Let me put
it to you this way. The overwhelming promise from the word of God
concerning those who boast in nothing except the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14) is that they will suffer
persecution. But from whom?
The scriptures assure us that
when we proclaim the gospel to those who are unregenerate, or in
the flesh (Rom. 8:9), and even to those in Christ who continue to
stubbornly rely upon the flesh (Gal. 3:3), we will be bombarded
with a heaping helping of one thing…persecution. No applause, no
pat-on-the-back, no "Amen, brother!" Nope…one
thing…persecution. In Ian Thomas’ book, The Mystery of
Godliness, he reminds that "nothing infuriates the flesh more
than failure to be recognized; and preaching that exposes it for
the wicked counterfeit it is must inevitably be the object of its
venom and its wrath!"
The one who is the most impressed
with their religious activity, the one who insists on having some
role in their salvation through performance, and even the one who
is born-again yet still seeks to milk every last drop of
works-based righteousness out of their flesh…these are the
persecutors. It’s them and Jesus working together to complete
the task. Friend, there will be no one who sits on the throne with
Christ with their arm around His shoulder and a broad smile on his
face saying, "Jesus, we did it!" On the contrary, we
will all be on our face before Him in absolute awe and
gratefulness for His work, and His work alone, on our behalf. All
the dictionaries in the world cannot begin to define the humility
we will experience when we stand before Him and realize He did
it all!
Think about it for a minute. When
Jesus came to earth, He "did not come to judge the world, but
to save the world" (John 12:47). He was "the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). He
"came that (we) might have life, and might have it
abundantly" (John 10:10). And yet He was disputed, betrayed,
hunted down, mocked, and finally, crucified. Who would lead such a
furious persecution against the Savior and His gracious offer of
eternal life? It was those who were insulted and infuriated by the
idea that He, and He alone, was their only hope for righteousness.
And the leader of the pack was a man named Saul (Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim.
1:13).
From that time Jesus Christ
began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Matthew 16:21
"And I persecuted this
Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into
prisons."
Acts 22:4
For you have heard of my
former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the
church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it;
Galatians 1:13
And he fell to the ground, and
heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?"
Acts 9:4
What a beautiful demonstration of
God’s grace it was when, after being rejected by his own Jewish
brethren, Jesus raised up their most admired persecutor of
Christians to be the vessel through whom He would reveal the word
of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18). Yet was the persecution any less for
the apostle Paul when he embarked upon his missionary journeys?
For I will show him how much
he must suffer for My name's sake.
Acts 9:16
When I read about the merciless,
relentless, vicious attacks upon Paul for the message he
proclaimed, it’s an overdue wake-up call. It’s a splash of
cold water in my face and I suddenly find it very hard to feel
sorry for myself when someone merely scoffs at me and tells me
they disagree. Many of Paul’s audiences didn’t just disagree
with him, didn’t just ask him not to preach at their church
again, didn't just take back their love offering…they wanted to
kill him (2 Cor. 11:23-28; 1 Thes. 2:2; Acts 13:50)!
But Jews came from Antioch and
Iconium, and having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and
dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
Acts 14:19
But I, brethren, if I still
preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling
block of the cross has been abolished.
Galatians 5:11
If Paul were with us today, not
only would he not make it onto Letterman, he likely would not be
invited to speak at many of our churches. Tragically, there are
countless Christians today who are running on flesh fuel as they
journey through life. Some have known nothing else. Some have
enjoyed years of success through the flesh. Consequently, when the
message of the cross is preached and the flesh, successful or not,
is shown to be worthy of one thing - crucifixion - both the
self-righteous sinner in Adam and the self-reliant saint in
Christ will squirm and bristle with resentment. Why? Because the
cross declares that the flesh profits us nothing (John 6:63) while
at the same time it reveals that Jesus gains us everything!
Here’s the new math that the flesh despises:
Jesus + anything = nothing; but
Jesus + nothing = EVERYTHING!!!
Know this, that when you preach a
gospel, the gospel, that takes the flesh completely out of the
equation for righteousness, stones will be hurled in your
direction. When the flesh is confronted with word of the
cross, it will always react in varying degrees of anger and
hostility. Mark it down…there is nothing more offensive to the
flesh than the cross of Jesus Christ.
So what can we expect today as we
seek to share the gospel with both the lost and some of those whom
He has saved?
But as at that time he who was
born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according
to the Spirit, so it is now also.
Galatians 4:29
Christian, join me in readjusting
our expectations of how those who hear the gospel will respond.
Let’s base our expectations on what the word of God tells us,
not what we expect. There will certainly be those who see their
need for Christ and
will respond with faith in Christ and Him alone. Yet, there will
also remain those who reject God's gift of righteousness. And when you submit this offer
to them, you can expect persecution and suffering for your
efforts. The flesh hasn’t changed and neither has the gospel.
Those who are in truly in Christ,
while they may foolishly choose to walk after the flesh from time
to time, are nevertheless convinced that the flesh does not in any
way contribute to their justification (Gal. 5:24). They have acknowledged its
worthlessness, even if it has served them well in this world (Phil
3:3). So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the
flesh, to live according to the flesh (Romans 8:12). This will be
the remnant that embraces the message of grace and glories in the
cross of Jesus Christ. These are those whom He has truly set free!
So now that we know what to
expect, as our brother Paul exhorted Timothy, so too I exhort you
to suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2
Timothy 2:3). Let’s rest and rejoice in knowing that just as the
sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is
abundant through Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5).
-John Moneypenny
(Luke 21:12; 2 Timothy 2:9;
Matthew 13:21; Acts 8:1; Acts 11:19; Acts 13:50; Galatians 1:23;
Mark 10:30; 2 Corinthians 12:10; Acts 5:41; Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy
1:12; Galatians 6:12; 1 Peter 3:14; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Thessalonians
1:5; 1 Peter 2:19; 1 Peter 5:9; Romans 8:18; Philippians 3:10; 1
Peter 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:16; Acts 7:52; Matthew 5:11;
Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12; Romans 12:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:4;
Romans 8:35)
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