Missions Textbook 55 Suffering and Persecution

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

One of the most pervasive themes in the Bible is the theme of suffering and persecution. They are not the same. Suffering can occur when a loved one dies or when one is stricken with cancer, divorce or financial ruin. Everyone suffers because of The Fall that is reported in Genesis 3, but not everyone is persecuted. Persecution is more targeted. It is the response of opponents and enemies to a religious, political or ideological position. Stories of persecution define much of what we learn in the Bible – from the martyrdom of Abel to Israel’s slavery in Egypt, from the Babylonian captivity to the murder of prophets, from the crucifixion of Jesus to the martyrs pleading for justice in Revelation 6:10 – persecution has fought to silence the faith of millions. Yet strangely enough, it doesn’t.

When we are trying to tell our friends or neighbors about our relationship with the Lord, there is a temptation to allow them to think (if we don’t say it outright) that becoming a Christian will make all their problems go away. We know, of course, that peace with God, and the Holy Spirit living in us, is wonderful. But especially for new converts in other countries, their physical and emotional life might not improve if they give their lives to the Lord. Their old religion, their family and friends, and their culture may react violently against the name of Jesus on their tongues.

During Jesus’ talk with His disciples in the Upper Room before His betrayal, Jesus spoke to his followers very bluntly about coming persecution. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). Unbelievers probably don’t even know why they are so opposed to their friends’ love for Christ. It is something supernatural, based on man’s sin nature rebelling against God, which surfaces when they hear the name of Jesus. Unbelievers may even be people who believe in God, but Jesus said, “He who hates Me hates My Father also” (John 15:23). We met people in Austria who would talk about God and the Virgin Mary and all the saints, but they would shudder in revulsion if they had to speak Jesus’ name. They did not want to believe this verse.

In John 16:1-3, Jesus tells the (probably bewildered) disciples why He is telling them this bad news. It always helps people to be warned that bad times are coming. It builds trust in the person doing the telling. ”These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.” All the disciples were persecuted, and all except possibly John were martyred for their faith by people who thought they were protecting the world from heresy. Ever since, believers have been dying for their faith, usually killed by people who wanted their version of God (which didn’t include Jesus) to be the right one.

There are, of course, perks. In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus encourages his followers who have given up family and friends to follow Him, “. . . Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms . . ..” He also promises them eternal life in the age to come, but before that He promises them persecutions. Not all believers are persecuted for their faith, but it should not come as a surprise that when you belong to Jesus and you gain a family and eternal life, persecutions may come with the package as well because Jesus was also persecuted.

Jesus doesn’t just leave us alone with our persecutions, however. The whole chapter of Mark 13 is full of information about coming persecutions, tribulations, and warnings to the believers. Many of the warnings, however, are about things that we, as believers, cannot prevent, but He has made provisions to help us endure. Most important, of course, is the giving of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells them “When [not “if”] they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:12). We saw this often in Austria as the new believers returned home and found that they “knew all the answers” to the objections of relatives and friends.

In Acts 14:21-28, the apostle Paul and his co-workers returned to the towns they had previously evangelized. While their first visit had brought messages of salvation, this time they strengthened “. . . the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:22). Then he recognized elders who were already leading those groups of believers in each city. Those elders would probably be the first to die when and if persecution came to town.

Paul had a unique viewpoint on his own persecution and imprisonment. In Philippians 1:12-21, he makes it very clear that he is delighted to be chained up to a succession of Roman guards because then he has a captive audience for the Gospel. At the end of Philippians and Romans, Paul lists members of Caesar’s household (Philippians 4:22) and even important men (Romans 16:23) who are believers in Jesus Christ.

He also tells the believers in Philippians 3:10 that we can have fellowship with Jesus and know Him better as we suffer. When we turn to Jesus in tears and say, “But my family has rejected me,” He just looks at us, and we know that He understands because He, too, felt family rejection. When a believer is tortured and dies for her faith, she can know that she is fellowshipping with Jesus because she has been given the privilege to suffer as He suffered. 

The entire book of First Peter is written to persecuted Jewish Christians who had fled from Jerusalem into Asia Minor. Now they were living as exiles, without all the cultural, social, economic, and religious familiarities that usually made life bearable, and maybe even comfortable. He tells them that the persecution will refine their faith and will result in praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns for them (1:6-8). He encourages them not to waver in their faith and behavior as believers, but to let their different lifestyle be a witness to their new neighbors (2:11-12). He points out that Jesus suffered, and they may suffer too, but they can follow His example of how patiently He suffered (2:19-21).

Peter wants them to be ready to share the reason for their faith and for their patient endurance of persecution (3:13-17). He points out that it is always better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong, and by this, the message of the Gospel was going out to Gentiles in Asia Minor. It was testified to by the holy behavior of the Jewish believers and by the words they were brave enough to speak. Peter closes the book with his reason for the letter: “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!” In spite of the difficulties these believers were facing, he wanted them to bask in God’s grace and to persevere in that grace, which makes every circumstance more bearable.

James, the brother of Jesus, also wrote to Jewish believers living in foreign lands. He told them in James 1:2-4 that they could find joy in their trials as they recognized that the outcome of the trials would be endurance and maturity in their faith. The one who perseveres under trial will receive a crown of life, “. . . which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Perseverance is actually a mark of a true believer.

The apostle John had also been exiled and imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos. He was an old man when he wrote the book of Revelation. He began the book by reporting in chapters 2-3 what Jesus Christ – now risen and glorified – had to say to the angels of the churches in seven cities in Asia Minor. A careful study of these churches reveals a goldmine of truth for living the Christian life. Three of the churches: Sardis, who needed to wake up (3:2), Laodocea, who was lukewarm and disgusting (3:16), and Pergamum, whose teaching was weak and heretical (2:14-15), needed to improve their teaching so that they would be prepared for coming persecution. The other four churches were commended for their perseverance (2:2,19; 3:10), and encouraged to hold fast (2:10, 25; 3:11). Persecution was a common thread, and the antidote against giving up was to cling to God’s word (2:2, 12, 16; 3:10).

During our time in Austria, we were so thankful to have discovered the advantages of simply reading through one of the gospels as our “evangelism method.” As we did this, God was able to speak to our friends on every issue – sin, repentance, love, judgment, persecution, grace, and so much more – in the natural context of the Scriptures. It is so important that we do not water down any part of God’s Gospel, and this includes the facts that following Jesus will have consequences that are likely to be difficult.

There is, however, a magnificent grace that accompanies persecution and trials, something that we cannot understand or appreciate until we are actually in the situation. James called it “greater grace” (James 4:6), and Jesus told the disciples it would be the Spirit of God (Mark 13:11; John 14:16-18).

Darlene Deibler Rose, a missionary to Indonesian during World War II, described this in her account of her eight years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

The first night in our barracks, I established a practice that I believe was responsible for maintaining the high level of compassion and cooperation that existed in our small community. That night and every night, we invited everyone to remain while we read a portion of God’s Word and prayed. We were united by a recognition of mutual need from within for help from One Who is greater than we. We faced a common enemy from without, and if we were to survive, we had to function as a unit. The interpersonal barriers of language, race, and color became nonexistent, and an ever-increasing appreciation of one another enabled us to face with courage the common plights of most prisoners of war: suffering, hunger, deprivations of every kind, forced labor, bombings, disease, psychological pressures, death, and lonely graves. . . . Throughout those very difficult years that tried our souls, God kept our barracks a calm center in the eye of the military storm that raged around us. There was a sharing, a concern, and a love that was unique. We struggled to preserve family feelings, to discover ways to lift morale, to encourage, comfort, and bear one another’s insupportable burdens. I am convinced the harmony we experienced in Barracks 8 was due to the spiritual shelter beneath which we all hid when there was no other refuge.[1]

Recommended Reading:

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe.

“Recapturing the Role of Suffering,” by Nik Ripken in From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues among Muslims. (William Carey Library, 2008).

Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, by Darlene Deibler Rose, (New York: HarperCollins, 2003).

[1] Rose, 69.

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

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