Secondly,
Pastor Matthew has served the Lord in SE Asia and has incredible experiences
that include suffering for his faith. He told of a time when they were in a
remote mountain village showing the Jesus’ Film and suddenly soldiers with
machines guns surrounded them, but God came to their aid. Thirdly, Pastor
Matthew is in the process of initiating a merger between Northwest English
congregation and All Nations Church. The two congregations will, therefore,
meet in the morning together from August this year. This major change will
transform NW Baptist into an international congregation reaching the nations
for Christ and walking with them to maturity.
When
soldiers with deadly weapons surrounded the Pastor and his colleagues,
God’s hand of protection was upon them. With a sudden turn of events like this,
“it is crucial to know how to react when you suffer for Jesus!” The Sunday
message outlined what our response should be when we suffer for Jesus through
the utilization of 3 Don’ts and 2 Do’s enumerated
and discussed below:
3 Don’ts
1.
Don’t be
surprised. 1 Peter 4:12
says, “Dear friends, do not be
surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as though something
strange were happening to you.” The apostle Peter expressed the truth through this verse and
it is the fact that “suffering for a Christian is normal.” The Twelve exemplify
it. Some of them were beheaded, imprisoned, and exiled because of their faith.
Today, there are Christians in Asia, Middle-East and Africa who are being
persecuted for their faith. Facing imprisonment and the possibility of death is
no longer a thing of the past; it is current reality, especially as some
regimes rise up and become repressive. At the writing of this article, a
Christian family in Sudan has been re-arrested after being released yesterday.
I hope and pray they are released and allowed to leave the country. The lesson
for us is clear: When we suffer for Jesus,
we should not be surprised. Instead, we should remember that other believers
around the world are also suffering for the faith and thus, we join them in the
fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Philippians 3:10).
2.
Don’t sin and
suffer, then claim to be “spiritual.” The apostle Peter reminded the
Christians in diaspora of how not to suffer: “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other
kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” (1 Peter 4:15). Some, as Pastor
Matthew phrased, have a “martyr complex,”—they claim to suffer for Jesus and
yet they are following their own agenda. Some in fact suffer as a result of
slander and gossip and others due their ill-intended actions that do not
express the love of Jesus. The loving thing to do is to go to a Christian that
has committed wrong and bring it to their attention in accordance to biblical
exhortation (Matthew 18:15-20). The message stressed that we shouldn’t spread
gossip about church people and then when we get in trouble for it, we say, “We
are suffering for Jesus.” To gossip
about others is as sinful and punishable a deed as other sins (Revelation
21:8). Inferentially, it can be drawn that “not all suffering is a result of Godly living.” Some suffering results from ungodly living
and unloving actions.
3.
Don’t be ashamed
to suffer for Jesus. Continuing with
the thought of the previous verses, the Word of God states, “…if anyone
suffers as a Christian, he [or she] is not to be ashamed…” (1 Peter
4:16). It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian, even though the world
tries to shame us when we follow Jesus. During the time of Jesus’ arrest, the
apostle Peter was ashamed of Jesus and denied Him three times. I believe Peter
was aware of the struggles and the untold suffering that Christians faced
during the time of the Roman Emperor Nero. In an effort to encourage them, as
well as believers today, Peter expressed from experience the grave mistake we
make when we are ashamed to suffer for Jesus. Warren W. Wiersbe commented on
the apostle Peter’s aforementioned statement:
This statement must have reminded Peter of his
own denial of Christ (Luke 22:54-62). Jesus is not ashamed of us (Heb.
2:11)—though many times He surely could be! The Father is not ashamed to be
called our God (Heb. 11:16). On the cross, Jesus despised shame for us (Heb.
12:2), so surely we can bear reproach for Him and not be ashamed. The warning
in Mark 8:38 is worth pondering (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary. Ontario, Canada:
David C. Cook, 2007, pp. 922).
Furthermore, Wiersbe (2007, p. 922) noted how
the determination not to be ashamed encouraged the apostle Paul. It encouraged
him at three different times, i.e. “when he went to Rome (Rom. 1:16), when he
suffered in Rome (Phil. 1:20, 21), and when he faced martyrdom in Rome (2 Tim.
1:12)." Overall, suffering for Christ kills our pride, our sin, and our selfish
way of doing things. When we suffer, we are drawn closer to Christ and we don’t
want anything to do with worldly pleasures. Consequently, we desire above all
else to glorify God in our lives. This brings us to consider two positive
things we can do when we suffer for Christ.
2 Do’s
1.
Be glad! In contrast to the negative
responses as far as suffering is concerned, the apostle Peter encourages a
Christ-follower to respond in this way: “Instead, be very glad—for these trials
make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the
wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.” (1 Peter4:13, New Living Translation). The best response to suffering is to
positively embrace it with gladness as the apostle Paul rejoiced in jail and
wrote to the other believers encouraging them to rejoice (see Phil. 4:4-7). When we suffer, we get a chance “to fellowship with Christ,
to know Him better and to realize that sufferings make future glory even
greater.” When we suffer we should continue to do good work. The apostle Peter
wrote to encourage the believers who were dispersed to different countries and
were suffering for doing good, saying:
“After
all, who in the ordinary way is likely to injure you for being enthusiastic for
good? And if it should happen that you suffer “for righteousness’ sake”, that
is a privilege. You need neither fear their threats nor worry about them;
simply concentrate on being completely devoted to Christ in your hearts. Be
ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer to any man who wants a
reason for the hope that you have within you. Make sure that your conscience is
perfectly clear, so that if men should speak slanderously of you as rogues,
they may come to feel ashamed of themselves for libeling your good Christian
behavior. If it is the will of God that you should suffer, it
is really better to suffer unjustly than because you have deserved it.” (1
Peter 3:13-17, J.B. Phillips New Testament).
2.
Praise God!
We should “praise God for the privilege
of being called by His name” (1 Peter 4:16). In place of shame, you should “thank
God that you bear Christ's name.” In a SE Asian country, in the midst of suffering, some followers of Christ consider
it an honor and use the opportunity for evangelizing as well as training
leaders for the ministry.
This article calls attention to three things we should
eliminate from our Christian witness in relation to suffering for Jesus: 1) Don’t be surprised; 2) Don’t sin and suffer, and claim to be
“spiritual,” and 3) Don’t be ashamed
to suffer for Jesus. It is also important that we examine two things to
embrace as far as our witness in suffering as Christians is concerned, namely:
1) Be glad, and 2) Praise God. In conclusion, then, let’s
answer these two questions in response to the message:
1)
What’s your current attitude about the
possibility of suffering as a Christ-follower?
2) What
kind of strategy have you put in place for suffering for Jesus?
