How to Handle Persecution, Part 2
Acts 4:13-32
Let's bow in prayer as we come to our study. Father, we do thank You for the wonderful opportunity that is ours to look into your book and to see what it is that the Spirit would teach us this morning. Make us to be open and help us to be teachable and not that we only learn it in our heads, but that we translate it into our lives. Bless our time, Father. May Jesus be lifted up. We pray in His name. Amen.
Take your Bible, if you will, and look at Acts Chapter 4, which will be our passage for this discussion this morning. And we are dealing with the subject how to handle persecution and this our second and concluding study of these verses in this particular section. In our continuing study of the early church, we have come in Chapter 4 to the first persecution. The book of Acts, as you well know if you've been with us at all in our study, records for us the life and times of the early church, from its birth through the early years of its growth and its spread to the world.
Now along with the birth of the church, we were to anticipate a reaction from the world. In John Chapter 15, Jesus Himself had warned by saying, "don't be surprised if the world hates you. They hated me." And they will kill you eventually, Chapter 16 of John tells. So Jesus warned that there would be hostility to the church just as there was hostility to Him, that it is to be expected. That it is inevitable. And so it comes in Chapter 4 in the very early days of the church. The church has been born in Chapter 2 through Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. The great sermons of Peter, the church grew. And by the time we come to Chapter 4, verse 4 it is likely that there were probably at least 20,000 people involved in the early church.
The 5,000 of verse 4 has to do with men. In addition to that, women and children would be included or young people. And so the threat to the Jews is very serious. They had attempted to get rid of Jesus Christ by executing Him and now they are having to live with people going all over everywhere proclaiming that He rose from the dead. And it isn't a handful anymore, it's probably between 10,000 and 20,000 of them that are doing this in Jerusalem.
So they're scared. And opposition naturally comes politically and religiously. Now the event that keyed off the persecution is recorded in Chapter. Now, you'll remember that Peter and John went for the afternoon prayer time down to the temple and coming through the gate called beautiful, they came across a lame man who for 40 years had been lame and was probably a fixture at that particular gate where he would daily beg for alms. At that point, they healed the man. He jumped up and hopped all over everywhere praising God. And such a thing drew the crowd into the courtyard, so startling was the miracle and so familiar was the man, that everybody gathered around and Peter and John jumped on Solomon's porch and with the man standing between them Peter preached a great sermon on Christ. Announced that their Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth that they had rejected their own Messiah and executed Him. And he indicted them for that. And then offered them salvation through the grace of God.
Now as a result of this, many believed and the number came to be about 5,000 men as we see it in verse 4. In response to this sermon and to the growth of this new faith in this Jesus, there came to be a tremendous antagonism on the part of the leaders of Israel. And in Chapter 4 that breaks out and it progresses to be more severe as we go through Acts even as it did in the case of Jesus.
Now at the persecution in Acts takes the form of physical abuse. Although there is some threatening in the beginning of this persecution, it finally finds it way to personal abuse. And in most cases, you might say well that really doesn't relate this text to me very well because we don't have that kind of persecution. Well, I'm not sure we wouldn't if we didn't...if we did confront the world in the same way that they did. But aside from that, I think Satan is subtle enough to know that as we said last time, the kind of persecution that gets to your ego may be more severe than that which gets to your body. The kind that hits you in the area of status or acceptance or pride or makes you fearful of losing your reputation or position in the community, may be the most subtle and devastating of all.
I think that Christians are want to depreciate their testimony and to back off from naming Christ as they ought to, because of the fear that somebody might not like them. Or the fear of be ostracized from their society. Or the fear of being fired from their job. Or the fear of being shut out of a community of people that they'd like to be a part of. Or the fear of being ignored as some kind of a strange commodity. I think we fall prey to the temptations and the persecutions in the area of ego and acceptance and pride more than anything else. And if I'm honest in examining my own heart, I think that's what gets to me.
Now there have been several occasions where physical abuse has been a reaction in terms of my preaching Christ and that didn't have a negative effect at all. It had a positive effect, but there are times when I feared to name the name of Christ because I'm afraid of being an outcast or looked down upon or spurned or being shut out or being thought to be some kind of a weird individual or a religious nut or a freak or whatever. But one way or another a Christian who really confronts the world is going to get some reaction from the world and we went into that a little bit last time. In 2 Timothy 3:12, we took a key from that, "Ye in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." It's just a known fact revealed in the word of God repeatedly that if you live for Christ in the face of the world, you're going to get some flack. That has to happen, because you're running cross grain to the system. It can't be smooth.
The apostle Paul recognizes this and in Philippians 1:29 he says this, now listen, "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." That's part of being a Christian. That's not a foreign element to the Christian life. That's a natural response to the Christian who really lives his Christianity in the world. And he says in verse 30, "you should have the same conflict which you see in me and hear to be in me." If you're doing what I'm doing then suffering is a part of it. And so when you say somebody you ought to suffer for Christ's sake, that doesn't mean run out and, you know, do something masochistic, beat on your head with a hammer or something so you can...it simply means if you confront the world as I do, Paul's saying, you're going to get what I got when I did it.
It's the measure of your commitment, you see. Now as we saw last time, the persecution begins in the first part of Chapter 4. But the great instruction that we want to look at is in verses 5-31, because this gives us principles for handling persecution. And that's what we began to study last time. But let me just preface it by giving you a kind of a little picture of persecution that maybe you've never seen before.
If handled right, now watch it, if handled right persecution is a blessed experience. It is a wonderful experience. It is a plus, not a minus. It is a positive, not a negative. I'll show you what I mean. Look at James Chapter 1 to begin with and we'll just kind of pick up a couple of points there. "My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials." When you have problems whether persecution or whatever, consider it a great joy. Why? Knowing this at the trying or the testing of your faith works patience. God has a plan. He wants to make you patient. "But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking nothing." Don't avoid the persecution. Don't get away from it, because in it God's going to bring you to maturity.
Let it have it's perfecting work you see. In your life God has a desire and His desire is to bring you to maturity. That's very clear. The plan of God is that you be perfected or made mature. And there are really two things that bring you to maturity. Number one is the word of God. 1 Peter 2:2, this is what makes you grow. But number two, trials, and under the area of trials, persecution, suffering, problems, whatever, these two things are to bring you to maturity. And so you must allow for persecution it's part of the process of spiritual growth. So if you're going to grow, you're going to have to be confronting the world and getting persecuted.
That's part of growing. You don't run away from it, you accept, verse 12. "Blessed is the man that endures temptation or trial or testing for when he is tried he'll receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." So what do we learn from James? We learn that persecution number one brings maturity. Persecution number 2 brings reward. Maturity and reward. Now I want you to listen to Peter. Now Peter knew a lot about persecution. In 1 Peter 2:20 listen to this. Interesting. "For what glory is it if when you are buffeted for your faults you take it patiently." In other words, you know, if you're being punished for your sins that's not persecution, that's punishment for your sins. No glory in that. "But if when you do well you serve God and you suffer for it, you take it patiently." This acceptable with God. Verse 21, "For here unto were you called." You were called to suffer. Now some people have gotten all twisted around and there are some people who have become concerned with making themselves suffer.
There's a certain order of the Catholic Church for example. I met a man in that order, who desired a suffer. Therefore this man wears around his waist a belt that has inserted into it sharp pointed nails. He wears it all the time, because he does not understand what it means to suffer. He thinks that the suffer itself is redemptive. And there are other people in Europe and you've seen them on television at certain periods of time called flagelantes who go down the streets and with cords filled with bits of glass beat themselves until the blood runs out of them. And they do this in the name of Jesus Christ, because they are feeling that they must suffer. But you see they are suffering by a masochistic effort to suffer, not as a result of confronting the world with the truth of the gospel and getting the reaction that God has naturally promised will happen.
You see to suffer independent of proclaiming Christ is ridiculous. And some people would go around and say well, my husband is my suffering. You know. Well, I bear my cross, it's my son. That is not your cross. Now that may be one of the problems, but to suffer for Christ is to get the response of the world to an open proclamation of Jesus by your life and your lip. And that's the only kind of suffering that pleases God. The kind that comes as a result in terms of persecution that comes as a result of your active, aggressive, living godly in Christ Jesus in the face of the world. And that is exactly what Peter is saying.
This is what you were called to, but suffering apart from that kind of life has no significance in terms of persecution. Now look at Chapter 4 of 1 Peter, verse 13. Now here's his attitude in persecution. "But rejoice," isn't that terrific? In verse 12 he says "don't think it's some strange thing when fiery trial comes. Rejoice inasmuch as you're partakers of Christ sufferings. That when His glory shall be revealed, you maybe glad also with exceeding joy for if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."
Isn't that wonderful, to get persecuted? The Spirit of Glory and the Spirit of God rests on you. Glory is connected with persecution. You want to really experience glory, persecution brings it. Back in Chapter 1, he said, the glory of man fades as a flower of the grass. If you put yourself in a culture and you try to accommodate yourself to the culture and accommodate yourself to the society, you may grab a little temporary glory, but it'll fade like the grass. But you accommodate yourself to Jesus Christ, you confront the world with your message, boldly proclaim Jesus Christ and you may get flack from the world, but you get glory from God.
And so he simply says if you suffer happy are you because glory is involved. In verse 16, "Ye yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God." So what do we learn? Persecution is wonderful. It brings growth, it brings glory, it brings joy and it brings reward. Terrific. And I warn you by what I said earlier that that doesn't mean you run out and suffer and then say boy am I racking them up with God. I'm beating myself. No. Something else Peter says in 1 Peter 5:10, "That the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus." There's glory again connected with suffering. All through Peter he connects glory with suffering. Because first the suffering then the glory.
"Unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have suffered a while make you perfect, established, strengthened, settle you." You want to be established, strong, settled, and perfect? How are you going to be it? Say it. Suffer. That's hard to say isn't it? That's part of growth. You see that's part of maturity. That's part of arriving where God wants you and as I say it's not masochistic, it's the proclamation of Christ by your life and your lip that sets up a reaction in the world by Satan and you get it. And yet there's nothing negative about it, you see?
There's nothing negative at all about suffering. It's entirely positive from beginning to end. You say well, I get scared out there. What happens if I get out there and the Lord leaves me? That'll never happen. I'll read you...you know this passage, Romans 8:35. It says this, "What shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or," what, "persecution?" No, and it says in the next verse, "As it is written for thy sake we are killed all day long." We're expendable. "We're counted as sheep for the slaughter, but in all these things we are more than," what, "conquerors." It's victory, you see. I mean to go through persecution is a fantastically wonderful experience. It's growth, it's glory. It's joy. It's reward. It's conquering. It's all those things.
Listen to Paul's attitude. 2 Corinthians 12:9, and here he's kind of saying Lord, I've got a thorn in the flesh and Satan buffets me with it and it could be possible that I could rid of it if you'd like Lord. But he says in verse 9, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." I like you weak Paul, because then you lean on me. And then he says this, "Most gladly therefore will I glory," there's that word again, "in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Now listen to this, this is a