Partners in Suffering

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This is a message that was given on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Written Excerpts:

Romans 12:15 (NKJV) ¹⁵  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Romans 15:30 (NKJV) ³⁰  Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,

1 Corinthians 12:26 (KJV) ²⁶  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

2 Timothy 1:8 (NKJV) ⁸  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

2 Timothy 3:10-12 (NKJV) ¹⁰  But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹  persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra--what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹²  Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Philippians 1:29 (NKJV) ²⁹  For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

1 Thessalonians 3:3 (NKJV) ³  that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.

Introduction:

I felt compelled to speak to you today regarding the issue of persecution. Jesus never promised His followers and disciples that they would have an easy life without opposition. In fact, He usually indicated that His disciples were to expect persecution and opposition.

The last couple of weeks we have had services that emphasized missionary outreach and the overall work of God in the world to bring more and more people into the Kingdom of God.

Today, we are giving special recognition to the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This theme also coincides with the messages we’ve heard the last two weeks.

I believe that God wants us to be aware of what our fellow Christians face in other parts of the world and that He wants us to support them in our prayers as well as other ways.

There are two primary facts about persecution that I feel compelled to share today.

1. Persecution is assumed to be a normal part of Christian life.

See passages above in green highlight.

In these few verses, it seems clear that the Apostle Paul viewed persecution as a normal part of the Christian life experience.

Jesus also made statements to prepare his disciples for the likelihood of persecution they would experience when they chose to follow Him.

Matthew 24:9 (NKJV) ⁹  Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.

Several weeks ago, I spoke about suffering in general (not necessarily due to persecution) and I was speaking about the fact that Christians in developing nations think of suffering as a normal part of life, while Christians in the West (particularly America) tend to think that God should keep His children from pain and suffering.

The same principle also seems to be true regarding persecution. From what I’ve been reading, it seems that Christians around the world (particularly in many developing nations) accept persecution as a normal experience for all Christians.

Why? Partly because the claims of Christ and the core message of the gospel goes completely cross-grain with the rest of the religions of the world, and partly because that is all some of them have ever known.

Many people don’t have a problem if Christians simply promote Jesus as one of many great religious leaders and one of many ways to heaven (God). But when we proclaim that Jesus is the only way to God and that He is the only way, truth and life, then all other religions have a major problem with that.

There’s simply no other way to say it than, “Persecution is one of the ways God uses to spread the gospel to people and places that may otherwise never hear about Jesus.”

2. Christians are expected to share and support those being persecuted.

See passages above in yellow highlight.

These verses directly imply that Christians have a duty and an obligation to remember those who are being persecuted and to do what we can to share their burden.

There are various ways that Christians can share the load of pain that others are facing such as: assisting with material and physical needs; petitioning their country’s government for relief of persecution; and through prayer.

From what I have heard and read, it seems that most Christians that are being persecuted most often request the prayers from other Christians around the world.

Most often, rather than praying for God to deliver them from persecution, they want us to pray that God will grant them the strength to endure it. They want us to pray that they will be faithful witnesses for Jesus and their suffering will produce eternal fruit for the Kingdom of God.

Based on the teaching of Scripture, I believe we all have a Christian responsibility and a Christian privilege to partner with those who are suffering for Jesus by first of all, praying for them, and then doing any other things we can to help them endure their circumstances.

Conclusion:

Today, I want to share with you a slide presentation that I put together from stories and pictures in some of the magazines published by Voice of the Martyrs.

Following the slide presentation, we will spend time praying.