The Price of Persecution

Preacher:
Date: September 21, 2016

Bible Text: Daniel 6:7 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.  Daniel 6:7

Towards the end of his life, Paul wrote a letter to his son in the Lord, Timothy. Paul tells of some of the difficulties that he had encountered, persecutions which he had endured. Then he says, “Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” He then makes a somewhat shocking statement. He says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).  Whoa!  “Just a minute,” you may be thinking. “I don’t remember that they talked about this before I signed up. It must have been in the small print I didn’t read.”

Vast numbers of people today are shocked and embarrassed when they become targets of scorn, verbal abuse, or even physical persecution. In many countries of the world, including some where today’s program will be heard or read, Christians are a tiny minority, and in many of those countries persecution is increasing.

Consider some of the following recent headlines:

Christian Man’s Arms Chopped Off for Not Embracing Islam
Egyptian Mob Burns 80 Christian Homes
Christian Persecution on Rise in Pakistan
Russia Bans Evangelism Outside Church

We are living in a period of time when religious tensions are growing stronger and more heated. The result is that more and more innocent people suffer.  Strange as it seems, Jesus said that when this happens God’s children are to rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer.

When persecution strikes, there are several responses. Many fall away. Like those in the parable of the sower and the tares, they consider the price too great and distance themselves from the faith. When the Communists took over China in 1949, more than half those who considered themselves to be believers went out the back door of the church and never came back. They apostatized.

Others, however, simply go underground. They are the ones who say, “They cannot stop us from worshiping at home. Secret or silent believers, yet their lives reflect a difference and that very fact makes them targets.  Their faith also makes them lights in a dark world, and that very fact significantly impacts the workplace and the neighborhood.  Observers cannot understand how they treat persecution with goodness; hate with love, and scorn with a smile.  Their visual witness becomes a powerful testimony to God’s indwelling presence.

Some commit themselves to the hands of God and are willing to face prison instead of capitulate. Such was a man I tell about in my book, Profiles of Faith. Wang Ming-Dao, a Chinese pastor in Shanghai, was imprisoned by the Communists because of his resistance to Communism. When he was offered a chance to gain his freedom by denouncing his preaching and teaching, he reasoned that he could sign the document and not mean it. He did; then he realized what he had done. He walked the streets saying, “I am Judas. I am Judas.” Going back to the authorities, he said, “Put me back in prison; I will never deny Jesus Christ again.” For the following 22 years he paid the price and became a powerful witness in prison of how God can and does meet someone who stands without compromise for the cause of Christ.

Read the fine print, friend. Remember, Jesus said you cannot be his disciple without taking your cross and following Him. What you may not have been told is that there is a price to pay but the reward is heavenly. Never forget it.

Resource reading:  Daniel 6