WE MAY NOT BE CALLED UPON TO BE MARTYRS IN THE SENSE OF DYING FOR CHRIST, BUT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE EXPECTED TO LIVE FOR CHRIST WHATEVER THE COST

(THE STORY OF POLYCARP OF SMYRNA)

In one sense last week’s passage dealt with the danger of being an unbeliever in the middle of a lot of believers and today it’s the reverse – the danger of being a believer in the middle of a lot of unbelievers. Jesus’ prediction that the world would hate the church came true.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO CHRISTIANS TODAY?

Persecution is the lot of the Christian Church and has been for 2,000 yrs. In the book of Acts we see how persecution became more fierce and the suffering that the early Christians had to endure became worse. There is a period of honeymoon, when life is wonderful for the new convert but before long you discover that you become a misfit. You find that everyone else is not as delighted as you are. You don’t join in the dirty jokes any more. Gradually other differences come. And people have standards for what Christians should be like, so that if you do join in the dirty jokes they think ‘Well I can’t see any difference, so it means nothing to be a Christian’.

It is frequently said that more Christians have been martyred for their faith in this century than any other, but lately that has been changed to all the other centuries put together. It is true that in countries like China, various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries, (and we don’t know about N.Korea) there are Christians in gaol and perhaps undergoing torture right now for their faith in Jesus Christ. The four missions that work together through radio evangelism in their paper ‘The World by 2,000 and beyond’, aim by the turn of the century to provide programs through which every man woman and child in the world can hear the gospel on radio in their own language. Their research shows that in that belt between latitudes 10 degrees N and 40 degrees, the following countries prohibit evangelism – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Western Sahara, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Yemen, Qatar, Djibouti, Bahrain, Algeria, Libya, Oman, Tunisia, Somalia, Syria, North Korea, and Maldives. Those that allow it are Japan, Mali, Benin, Taiwan, Ethiopia, and Lebanon. All the other countries in that belt restrict evangelism.

But you heard Richard Coombes speak a few weeks ago on the world of Islam and understand something of the terror that those coming to faith in Jesus Christ face in those regions. ‘The Times’ of London in April 1994 published an article which reported on the killing of Christians in Iran. It told of the torture and murder of Bishop Haik, the leader of the Assembly of God community there. It took place immediately after he worked hard and publicly to save the life of another whose only crime was conversion to Christianity. Bishop Haik had in 1993 publicly appealed to the United Nations to investigate countless and dreadful abuses of human rights practised on evangelical Christians in Iran. The UN appointed a special envoy whose report was damning. But the Iranian rulers endeavoured to hide the abuses by bringing pressure upon all non Muslim faiths in Iran to to sign a declaration that none of them was in any way oppressed in matters of religion, and they also had to declare that they would not proselytise Muslims. Bishop Haik had refused to sign. The day before he disappeared he wrote a ‘Letter to Friends’ which began with the words: ‘Praise the Lord for all his victories’. Then he set out the persecutions that Christians had suffered in many places, and the details of their torture. Before his murder he said ‘I am ready to die for the cause of the church so that others will be able to worship their Lord peacefully and without fear.’

In the early centuries of the Christian church the Roman emperors tried to suppress the growth of the church by torture and by throwing Christians to the lions in a public arena, but as the early church leaders said: ‘The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.’ Jesus had said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church.

In recent years with all the emphasis on human rights and the evils of racial discrimination, it is time that attention be given now to eradicating religious discrimination. Jesus Christ Himself anticipated what would happen when Christians were faithful in conveying the gospel to others. Just before His crucifixion He said: ‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also … a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God’ (John 15 & 16)

WE MAY NOT BE CALLED UPON TO BE MARTYRS IN THE SENSE OF DYING FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST, BUT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE EXPECTED TO LIVE FOR CHRIST WHATEVER THE COST

THE TEXT – ACTS 5:17-42

For the second time they are going to be thrown into prison for no other crime than that they have preached Jesus. Whenever we meet together in the freedom that we enjoy we need to remember that right now as we worship there are many many people who are in prison for preaching Jesus and some of them are being tortured and some have not seen loved ones for years.

The book of Acts is utterly relevant and as up to date as today’s newspaper. The contrast I want to draw today is between the Christians and their reckless boldness which scorns safety and whose motto was safety last and a man who was tolerant, cautious careful and whose common sense would appeal to us but whose common sense was as far removed from the Christian outlook as the east is from the west. Take the Christians.

FOUR OPPORTUNITIES TO ESCAPE

There were four points at which common sense would have said ‘Stop the fight’. There were 4 pts at which they could have got out of the problem. They had 4 opportunities to run away, 4 to be safe and they did not take one of the four.

1. Let’s take the first. They had been warned that if they preached Jesus once more they would be arrested. Did that stop them? They just went out onto the streets and did it. It seemed to spark them off rather than stop them. This was their opportunity. They could have migrated and preached somewhere else. It was absolutely inevitable that they would get into trouble because the authorities were jealous.

Jealousy makes people do dreadful things. It makes them cruel unjust and unfair, do and say things which are not true. Those authorities were jealous. They were the rel leaders of the whole nation and here was a bunch of ignorant fishermen who could draw much greater crowds than they had ever seen in their pews. No wonder, they were the officially appointed religious leaders and here was a bunch of amateurs who walked straight into their temple and all the people flocked to them. No wonder they tried to stop it but deep down it was envy, jealousy. Envy was responsible for the first murder in history. Cain killed Abel from envy and it was responsible for the worst murder in history. Pilate could see that Annas and Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead. ‘For envy they delivered him up’. So they arrested them and the believers missed the first opportunity to be safe.

2. Now they were going to have another opportunity to be safe. I’m sure the Lord has a great sense of humour, certainly the angel had, to shut the door behind him and lock it again. How the angel got the locks undone we don’t know. All the apostles were there, not just a few of them. He got them out brought them past the prison guards and I can imagine the apostles thinking ‘Wow let’s get out of here- we’re free’. But what did the angel say? Now get back to the temple and start preaching as soon as you can.

General Booth won the battle for freedom to preach the gospel in the streets of Grt Brit. In early days of the S A open air services were banned – particularly Eastbourne a holiday resort in the Sth of England. So what did he do, Gen Booth sent orders to every SA Corps in Br to send soldiers to Eastbourne to start preaching the gospel the minute they get off the train. Well the first lot were arrested and put in gaol, the next train came in, soldiers poured off the train and started preaching, all were arrested, but as more and more trains delivered more and more preachers the authorities couldn’t cope with the number of prisoners and were forced to allow the salvationists to preach. Then of course Gen Booth wrote to other town councils to say that Eastbourne had allowed their preachers on the streets why shouldn’t they? That’s how the S A got their liberty to preach the gospel throughout England.

Well the angel had got them out of prison, they were free, their chains had fallen off. They could have run away then. They went straight back into the temple and preached about the risen Jesus.

You will notice that the angel told them to go and tell the whole message about this life. Xtny is not a religion. Islam is a religion, Buddhism is a religion but Christianity is this life and it’s not just a way of life it is the way to life. It is Jesus who said ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. So the angel said ‘Go and tell the people about this life’. Don’t tell people about your religion, don’t talk to them about theology, about your church, tell them about life, life from the dead, this life that started when Jesus burst from the tomb.

Now the irony of it comes as the court assembles. Call the prisoners, down the corridor the shout goes. Then – they are not here. Those guards prob lost their lives. They had let them out, yet the doors were locked, the padlocks still there. You can imagine the consternation in court. Then someone came in and said ‘They are preaching in the temple’ – the very thing they had been arrested for. Can you imagine the humour of it all. Psalm 2 says ‘God sits in heaven and laughs’ and I can believe it. A few years later Paul, while in chains in a dungeon in Rome wrote ‘The Word of God is not bound’, even though he was. And even tho he was in chains the Word of God was getting right into Caesar’s palace, from that prisoner in chains. The Word of God is not bound. So they missed their second opportunity to escape.

3. Well their third opportunity of freedom came when the soldiers tried to arrest them for the second time because it is clear from the story that an angry murmur ran through the crowd when the soldiers came to arrest them again. If the apostles had lifted one finger there would have been such a riot that every temple guard would have been murdered on the spot. There is no doubt that the apostles were in the strong position, the crowd was with them and completely outnumbered the soldiers, and they had an opportunity for freedom. They could have said ‘Up and at em’ and the whole crowd would have gone wild and slaughtered the soldiers. But they didn’t resist, they quietly submitted to being led into court.

Example of the young man converted in a coffee bar in England Shortly after that he went to the police in Liverpool and confessed to a crime and was given a light sentence. He rapidly became known as the bishop because he preached to them all in prison. He said ‘You know just a few weeks ago I was just like you. But I’m not now, I’ve found life,’ and he led many prisoners to the Lord. Well then his term came to an end and he wondered what to do next. Then he remembered a job he had done in Worcester so he went to the police there and confessed to it and got himself another gaol sentence. He claims to be the only evangelist in England who is entirely paid by Her Majesty the Queen.

The apostles missed their third opportunity to escape and be safe and now they are in court and charged with two things. First of all the high priest says ‘You have disobeyed a court order. Our court order was that you must not teach in this name and you’ve gone and done it and secondly you are trying to pin the blame on me – you are trying to accuse me of this man’s death.

Peter then stated a principle that applies to all disciples at all times: ‘We must obey God rather than men’. Fortunately in most situations in life we can obey both, but in every single one of our lives there will come a point, maybe some little thing, maybe huge when we have to stand with Peter and say I’m sorry, it goes against what God is saying. God has told me to be honest and if you are telling me to be dishonest I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I must obey God rather than people. Christians take their orders from higher up.

Then Peter goads them further about ‘this man’ as if he didn’t like them referring to Jesus as ‘this man’. The high priest had said (v28) ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us’. Peter said this man is the son of God, this man you took and hanged on a tree, this man God raised up, this Jesus God raised up. If you want witnesses we can be those witnesses. We are here on the crime of teaching that Jesus is still alive. There is the evidence of those who saw him but there is also the evidence of the Holy Spirit who confirms that it is true. No wonder Peter had them tied up in knots again, but this time the literal greek says they were sawn through, as if someone was sawing them in two. They were enraged – ie the Sadducees. They decided to try to kill them.

4. Now here is another opportunity to apologise to say they were sorry about the trouble they had caused, to promise not to teach . They could have recanted, but they didn’t, they’d lost their 4th opportunity. You may recall an old hymn – ‘A safe stronghold our God is still’ by Martin Luther on his way to the Diet of Worms that court before which he had to appear and which he knew was not going to be safe place to go. He said if there are as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the roofs, I would still go and when he got there he said those matchless words ‘Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God’. Time nd again Christians have had the opportunity to be safe, by recanting, by saying they were wrong, by denying the faith, but they have not taken it.

So here were the four opportunities, they had been threatened but they didn’t refrain from preaching. They had been set free from prison but they didn’t run away. They had been arrested again but they didn’t resist even though the opportunity was there. Accused of these crimes they did not recant. Four times they could have had safety and four times they were utterly reckless. Normal wisdom would say, Peter James and John, you are being foolish. Go on like this and you will be dead. And you would have been speaking the truth, because before too long they were dead all but one, who survived to old age and that was John. All the others died violent deaths at the hands of their persecutors.

GAMALIEL THE CAUTIOUS ONE

Now in contrast to all this is a man who is typically cautious, typically sensible, worldly wise, typically tolerant, a man called Gamaliel. Let’s think about his example. Could it be that all these qualities were in some ways negative. Sure he was a good man, popular, respected, a peace maker. Unlike the others he was a pharisee, he believed in the resurrection from the dead, a future life, as the Sadducees did not, they played around with their religion. And Gamaliel said ‘I’d like to speak to the court’ or the council, the Sanhedrin. Gamaliel said ‘Be very careful what you do with these men.’ Then he said ‘If the movement is human it will die out. Remember so and so, he faded out. If it is of God you will never blot it out.’ Now he never spoke a truer word. Here we are 2,000 years later and the church is not blotted out. Don’t believe the reports you hear that the church is dying.

But let’s look more closely at Gamaliel. What were his motives? It could be that he was afraid to take sides. G was typical of the tolerant cautious man who says ‘I’m not making up my mind right now. I’d rather wait and see – give it time, unwilling to take a stand for or against, why, because he was afraid he might back the wrong horse. He was afraid . He believed in the resurrection and they were claiming it had happened. The tragedy was he never made his mind up. And you say but he was wise and careful, tolerant and sensible. Well let me say this ‘You never here again about Gamaliel’. Those who are not against Christ are not necessarily for him. Gamaliel was a professor of theology, devout in his religion, and there was a young man who sat in the front row of of his lectures who on hearing what the followers of Jesus were claiming determined to wipe it out.

It’s true he got safety for the Christians. They were beaten (40 lashes for each). This is the first time Christians had suffered for Jesus, and can you imagine what the next sentence is ‘They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of Jesus.’

Did they catch the first bus out of Jerusalem? No, they went on teaching ‘We believe that Jesus is the Christ.’

How are you going with our theme for the year – making Christ known through friendship? Are you praying for those to whom you want to share your faith? Because nothing will happen without prayer. Let’s be fair dincum about our faith and keen to let the Lord use us.

REMEMBER, WE MAY NOT BE CALLED ON TO BE MARTYRS IN THE SENSE OF DYING FOR CHRIST, BUT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE EXPECTED TO LIVE FOR CHRIST WHATEVER THE COST

Our God we complain when we are ridiculed for what we believe and our faith falters. Forgive us Lord for such a naive misunderstanding. Give us courage Lord to have the victory and to follow in the footsteps of Christ and for the joy that is set before us to endure shame and to go on preaching and teaching that Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.