Living your life for Christ is hard. Trusting God is
hard. Following Christ is hard. These are some of the hardest things you will
ever do.
There’s this verse in Acts, when I read it I was
completely blown away by it and what it meant. The verse is Acts 9.16.
Up to this point in Acts, we’ve seen Jesus ascend up to
heaven, the Holy Spirit come, and the Apostles speak at the day of Pentecost
where at least 3000 gave their lives to Christ. That’s some great stuff. And it
gets even better! The believers are gathering daily, God was adding to their
number daily, and no one in the company of believers lacked anything, pooling
all their resources together and there were miraculous healings.
But then things started to get rough.
Peter and John were brought before the Jewish council for
their healing of the crippled man, and were threatened never to speak of this
Jesus again. Some were discouraged by this, but the believers gathered together
to pray for boldness, to weather the storms that may come.
They had people try to come in their faith and gain
favor, lying for it, which resulted in their deaths. The Apostles were arrested
again for more miraculous things that were done. Those that arrested them and
accused them wanted them dead for the things they did and the Christ they
preached. Finally the men who had them arrested decided to beat them and send
them on their way.
Later, we see a man named Stephen, who was full of grace
and power, doing great things, signs and wonders among the people. The Jews saw
this, heard his words about Christ, and seized him. Those who grabbed him
stirred the people up, and had an unfair trial against him, full of slander and
lies against him. In his defense, Stephen gives an outstanding speech for
Christ. This was the final straw for those around him. They dragged him out of
the city, beating him along the way and forcefully throwing him out the gate.
They picked up stones and began throwing them at him, killing him there. All
the while a man who made acts like this his career stood over the stoning
nodding his approval.
Saul goes throughout the towns and cities, rounding up
Christians for arrest of death. The persecution of the Church is in full swing
at this point. He is commissioned by the Jewish leaders to go to Damascus to
arrest more Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem. But along the way
Christ appears to him, and Saul “sees the light,” he sees the truth of who
Jesus is.
God goes to a man named Ananias, and tells him that Saul
will be coming to his house. This man knows of Saul, he knows of his attacks
against the church and wants nothing to do with him. But God assures Ananias
that Saul is on his side. He reaffirms this with Acts 9.16, “For I will show
him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Paul, one of the greatest missionaries this world has
ever seen had his new life started off with the sentence of “I will show him
how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
We look through the rest of Acts, and we even have a
recounting from Paul himself about the things that he went through for the sake
of Christ.
2 Corinthians 11.23-30: Are they servants of Christ? I am
a better one, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless
beatings and often times near death. Five times I received at the hands of the
Jews (his people) the forty lashes minus one (40 lashes being death). Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned (and probably killed). Three
times I was shipwrecked; and spent a
night and day at open sea; I’ve been on frequent journeys, in danger from
rivers, robbers, my own people and Gentiles, those I’m supposed to take the
Word to. I’ve been in danger in cities, the wilderness, at sea and from false
brothers. I’ve had toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, in hunger and
thirst, often times going without food, in cold and exposed to the elements.
And on top of that I have all the added anxiety of the churches!
All of this can be summed up in one verse: I will show
him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.
Paul had an easy going life. He had a great life up until
Christ burst in like the kool-aid guy. Before he was top dog, rising fast in
his social circles. He was well known and respected, probably loaded, and in a
position of power. Then things got hard.
Christ himself tells us that those who follow him will
suffer persecution. In Matthew 10 Jesus sends out the 12, and he tells them,
“I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Watch out for those around you,
they’ll arrest you, beat you, and you’ll be dragged before those in power.
People will turn on you, even those you think are on your side; and you will be
hated for the sake of my name.”
Jesus knows the type of problems that come with the
message of the cross, and those problems make following hard, and it becomes a
struggle to live out your faith.
In James 2 we see that faith without works is dead. It
just doesn’t exist, it doesn’t work. And in times like today where the
Christians have lost the culture war and are now being attacked for their
beliefs, it’s hard to accompany your action with your faith. It’s hard to ask a
friend if you can pray for them knowing they’re not a Christian. It’s hard to
go up to a person you don’t know and strike up a conversation just for the sole
purpose of making their day. It’s hard to love on total strangers like Jesus
did, just to show them the love of Christ.
One of the hardest acts of faith though is taking that
giant leap and letting go of everything for the sake of Christ. Jesus tells us
that anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for him will find it.
Push through the hard parts of life as a Christian. Live
out your faith. Let go of everything for Christ. And on the other side, things
will better, and there will be the greatest reward ever for you.
As we end the night I want to leave you with some
questions to reflect on.
1) What is it that you value most?
The World values things that we
don’t value, yet it’s hard for us not to value those things as well, be it
money, popularity, sex, reputation, material items. What is it that you value, and how does it stack up
against the things God tells us to value?
2) What part of your old life are you holding on to that
you don't want to?
These things that you value may
be items of your past life that you don’t want to let go of, you’re afraid to
take the complete leap. What are they? What do you need to hand over to God?
3) What do you need to pray for?
The early Church prayed for
boldness. Many of the Apostles prayed for open doors to spread the Gospel. What
is it you need to pray for?
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