Using Your Setbacks to Spring Forward Part 1 (Acts 8:1-8)

by roderickbarnes Uncategorized

Introduction

What are you going to do when the consequences of keeping company with Christ come home? We cannot be so naive as to think that periods of peace will last always. Indeed, it is not wise to ignore the advisories and admonitions of Scripture regarding persecution:

  • Positive Perspectives on Persecution (Matthew 5:11-12 – part of the profile of a prize winner) 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Persecution is an indicator of imminent great reward

  • Promises of Persecution (2 Timothy 3:12 – more than a high probability) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Persecution is an indispensable part of godly living

  • Purposes of Persecution (1 Peter 4:14-16 – promotion of God’s glory; Romans 5:1-5; James 1:1-2 – purifying of character) 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

Persecution is an instigation of glory for God. The persecutor pushes the persecuted into worship.

All of these words from Scripture are helpful insofar as they keep me from falling into despair. But what are we to do when it is our day to pay for following Jesus? If you think this question is little more than the rhetoric required for opening this message consider the following:

Do not be deceived into thinking that modern persecution of Jesus followers is fiction, or that it is random, or that it is seldom, or that it is remote. The opposition to following Christ is real, it is frequent, it is progressing, and it is local. (In fact, it can become very personal. If your devotion to Christ is getting in the way of someone’s ungodliness, they will intentionally injure you with the goal of getting you to stop standing your ground, to stop stating the truth, and to stop promoting their repentance.) What should we do? Thank God for the Bible! His word is telling us the perspective to have and the plan to execute when adversity arrives; the precedents and guidance are found in the history of our faith as recorded in Acts. Specifically, we need to study the writings of Luke in Acts; there are principles for us in this book. Concerning the situation in Jerusalem, J. B. Polhill writes

The opposition to the Christians had been gaining momentum throughout chaps. 4–6. It came first from the Jewish officials in the arrest of the apostles and the two hearings before the Sanhedrin. The first resulted in a warning (4:21); the second, in a flogging (5:40). With the Hellenist Stephen came a third Sanhedrin trial, and this one resulted in death for the Christian witness (7:58–60). The new factor was that this time the officials had the backing of the people (6:12)

Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 211). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

In Acts 8 we are reading about the intolerance that was heaped on the early Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) because of their grand view of God and their promotion of Jesus. They insist that God is global in His concerns and that the true temple of God is not a location on earth (Isaiah 66:1-2) but the moving body of Christ. They have the audacity to say that the purpose of the law in preparing for the coming of the Christ has been fulfilled (Galatians 3:24) in Jesus of Nazareth and that now the relationship between Jew (or Gentile) and God will not be based on the law of Moses. The former things had become items of pride for many Jews; the idea that the law and temple were no longer needed was threatening to the egos, empires, and economies of people who had learned to use the law and the temple for self-promotion.

The Hellenist vision of an “unbounded God” was intolerable, particularly for the “Zionists” of the Diaspora-Jewish synagogues; and they unleashed their fury on these Greek-speaking Christian “radicals” in their midst.

Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 211). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

These new perspectives coming out of the Jesus community were threatening to people who used the religion to ruthlessly control others, stay in power, feed their appetites for vain glory, and line their pockets. They saw no choice but to rid their communities of the new sect of Jesus followers.

Questions for Consideration

  1. How have you experienced persecution for your devotion to Christ, being godly, and being truthful? Are you willing to accept that it is part of the promises of God (2 Timothy 3:12) and consequence of keeping company with Christ (1 Peter?
  2. The command and approved response to being mistreated for serving Jesus is worship (Matthew 5:11-12; 1 Peter 4:16) and giving thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). What are you doing with this command from Christ?
  3. You have been counted worthy! Of what? Read all of these verses and then answer the question (Matthew 5:11-12; Acts 5:40-41).

Your persecution for following Jesus is your participation in the suffering that was once directed at the head. Now the body of Christ is suffering; you have been made part of that body through faith in Christ. To be included in that suffering is confirmation that you are His and that He is yours. Rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer shameful treatment for His name.

In His grip by His grace,
Roderick L. Barnes, Sr.

References

Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 211). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.