I expect the world to be sinful. Any proper reading of God’s truth and any genuine theology will always lead us to an understanding that God’s assessment of sinners in Genesis 6:5 (the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually) continues to be accurate. However, I was caught off guard recently by an avenue of wickedness and persecution of the truth that I had not witnessed in days past.
A sports columnist for the Fort Myers News-Press recently referred to quarterback Tim Tebow of the University of Florida Gators and told his readers: “I don’t know how many more ‘God bless’ comments I can stand from the 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.” Tebow, the author asserted, should just play football and forget about his religious beliefs while he is on the Gator squad. In fact, the columnist wrote, “We separate church and state. Why not church and sports?”
Most likely, this small paper column was prompted by a more prominent essay published in the October 12, 2009 edition of USA Today. A board member of that newspaper leveled a diatribe against the Christian message that, he laments, pervades so much of the competitive sports world in our nation. Among the many irritations that author has developed from Christian athletes sharing their faith is the fact that Jesus is proclaimed as the only way to be right with God. He writes, “If their take on God and truth and life is the only right one—which their creed boldly states—everyone else is wrong.”
Frankly, that is about the only thing in his article that he was right about.
But my point is not to take those articles to task. Not that I would mind, especially since their supposed arguments are baseless, full of holes and, truth be told, downright silly. No, rather I want to draw our attention for the moment that this “new” area of attack should remind us of some rather old facts that are still pertinent for every true believer in Jesus Christ. These jousts against believers speaking up from the sporting platform should remind us that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:12-13).
As much as I hate making my “escape” of sports a point of any focus other than enjoyment, it seems that this arena is also to be a sphere in which essential spiritual truth stays at the front of the brain! And this reminds me—and I want to remind you—of three truths regarding why believers in Jesus Christ face persecution.
- Persecution was promised to believers in Jesus who want to live like believers in Jesus. That is the clear and unmistakeable point of the verse quoted above. It gives a simple equation: desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus = will be persecuted. What should surprise us is that so many of God’s professing children don’t realize this truth! Not only does the portion of God’s Word just quoted make it hard to miss, but Jesus Himself taught this plainly. Listen to the words of the Savior: If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me (John 15:19-21).
- Persecution is meant to remind us that we are a part of the body of Christ. At a minimum this is something inferred by the words of Jesus that we just read. We belong to Him, and the world hates Him, and therefore, they hate us. We are part of Him if we belong to Him by grace through faith. The apostle Paul understood this and its implications when he wrote, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church (Colossians 1:24). What Paul implies beyond his attachment to Jesus is that he is also attached to every other believer in Jesus! And that is exactly one of the purposes of persecution in the life of a Christian. Our trials are meant to remind us that what we face is, indeed, “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). More importantly, such times ought to bring to our mind the command: Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body (Hebrews 13:3). Currently our taste of suffering for the Lord is limited. (I mean, come on, nasty articles about Christian athletes is not really comparable to torture in prison!) However, when we see things through the lens of Scripture, we are reminded that our small sufferings are meant to recall to our minds the larger sufferings of our brothers and sisters.
- Persecution handled correctly will always bring us back to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our tendency, sadly, is to always view life through the prism of self. (“How does this affect me? What am I going to do? Oh, woe is me!”) Biblically, however, life for the believer is intended to be that through which we always seek the glory of God. Frankly, it does not get plainer than this: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Obviously the phrase “whatever you do” has to apply to going through persecution, and so that also must be done to the glory of the Lord. Fortunately for us, we do not have to wonder how this is done as our Master already told us (in the section we read earlier) that any oppression we face will come about because He is the object of the world’s abuse. We are just the channel they use to voice their wicked hatred of Him! So as harassments (or worse) begin to mount we have the opportunity to let these things direct our thinking and our source of strength back to Jesus!
There is no doubting that the enemies of Jesus are feeling their growing strength in our country. And, we might as well believe God’s promise that this will just grow worse and worse. However, if we respond biblically and allow these promised persecutions to move us ever closer to the Lord Jesus, we win! And that is better than a victory on the football field any day.
Posted on November 7th, 2009 by Pastor Larry
Filed under: From the Pastor’s Pen