Over the past few weeks I have seen numerous postings via Twitter, Facebook, Email, and Persecution.com about people all over the world being persecuted in the name of Christ, for the sake of the gospel, to advance the kingdom of God. The most popular event was when several pastors started a Twitter campaign to plead with President Obama to speak boldly and wisely concerning Said Musa and his impending martyrdom for being a Christian in Afghanistan. Who, by the grace of God, was set free and not murdered.
Then a friend tweeted several quotes from people in Burma:
Pastor beaten for loving Jesus. Thrown in prison. Shared the gospel & 6 were saved in jail!
Burmese Christian “Most of us are struggling just to get daily food. Yet I feel so happy because I am counted worthy to be persecuted for Christ”
Burmese Christian “My prayer is for facing severe persecution in Burma for the Christian. So the church will grow faster & we may face revival”
Now we have more articles about Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani minorities minister getting killed for his faith.
ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au
Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com
We’ve got people in Afghanistan, Burma, and Pakistan suffering and dying for following Christ. Yet all the media sees is an example of mere social injustice, almost cheapening the sacrifice of these men and women. They aren’t suffering and dying just for political freedoms. They’re doing it for Jesus.
John Piper’s Desiring God Blog provides a more refreshing perspective when he says, “I pray that his (Bhatti’s) death will not be in vain in my life and in Pakistan’s struggle for freedom.” Piper realizes that Bhatti’s death has a direct impact on his life as a Christian, not just as someone who wants political freedoms for people to worship, but that this is the reality of what truly following Jesus and proclaiming the gospel can entail.
Said Musa said that he didn’t care what happened to his body, because only Jesus controls where his soul goes when he dies. Shahbaz Bhatti says, “I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. . . . I’m ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights.” Then the Burmese Christian mentioned earlier is actually praying for MORE persecution so the gospel will spread faster.
So, why aren’t we?!
Why aren’t we facing the same persecution here in America? Why aren’t we suffering for the sake of the gospel? Is it because we’ve grown too accustomed to our “rights” that we don’t want to lose them? Have we lost the meaning of what it means to follow Jesus at all costs, even when it means going against what is deemed as “tolerant” or “politically correct”? Have we been too easily granted our idols of comfort, pleasure, security, and “freedom”? Or is it that we have simply lost courage and faith in America, so that we are no longer capable of standing with the apostles and saying “Whether by my life or my death, advance Your kingdom”?
Have we become too much like the Pharisees and separated ourselves from culture so that we don’t become tainted by sin, therefore diminishing our ability to reach anyone? Have we become like the Sadducees, so conformed to our culture that we aren’t considered to be different? Have we become like the Zealots and seen merely as people who just want to overthrow the political government? In any of these cases, people would be right to not take us seriously when we say we “follow Christ”, because Jesus wasn’t like any of these.
One of my favorite authors, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church wrote The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out without Selling Out, a book on reaching our culture without letting go of the gospel. This has been very helpful to my understanding of how to reach those so steeped in our most ridiculous culture.
Many people today confuse “love” with “tolerance”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As a Christian, the most loving thing I can do is tell someone they need Jesus. The most loving this I can do is tell someone that they, in fact, don’t have it altogether, that being a “good” person isn’t enough. The most loving this I can do is point out the fallacies they have come to believe as they have been inoculated to the American Jesus, one who only lives to serve our comforts and pleasures. The problem with being inoculated is that it gives you just enough so you don’t get the real thing. The most loving thing I can do is call someone to repentance.
I certainly don’t have this all figured out, but when I see a trend throughout history of men and women being persecuted for truly following Jesus, and I see it happening in our own time in other places, I’m left with one conclusion: Something’s gone wrong here. Something’s wrong with us.
God, please, move in us by Your Holy Spirit so that we might have the courage and faith of the apostles, so that we might place your kingdom above our own lives, so that we would have the “Whether by life or by death” mentality, so that we would represent You, for Your glory, our good, and the joy of all peoples. Amen
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