IDOP 2007: Why Should We Remember the Persecuted Church?

Preached on November 11, 2007, by Eric Schumacher

Topics: Persecuted Church

(c) Eric M Schumacher - Preached November 11, 2007 at Northbrook BaptistChurch , Cedar Rapids, Iowa

This is my 2007 sermon for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. My 2006 sermon is available here.

This morning, we find ourselves at the convergence of two days set apart for special remembrance.

Armistice Day marks the ceasefire on the Western Front, signaling the official end of World War I. It was at 11:00 am on November 11, 1918 that World War I officially ended. The armistice (which is a truce before the signing of the peace treaty) was "signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiegne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning -- the 'eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.'" [1] After World War II, the United States changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, recognizing all those who served in the armed forces.

The second Sunday of November, which happens this year to coincide with November 11, is The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, a day set aside to remember those Christians who have suffered or died for their witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is set aside to pray for those who are presently suffering and sometimes dying to witness to the Gospel today and to stir ourselves to action on their behalf.

Why?

Why should we remember these people? Why should a nation pause to remember those gave their lives for their freedom? Why should the church pause to remember those who have suffered or died for the faith in the Messiah?

1) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because Scripture commands us to.

Hebrews 13:3 gives us a clear command: "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated..."

To be unconcerned and unresponsive (and perhaps even unaware) of the persecuted church is simple disobedience to the Word of God. Sadly, this is the case for many Christians today. Few churches actually make any effort at all to obey Hebrews 13:3. I hope that you will pick up a copy of The Voice of the Martyrs magazine on the back table, subscribe to it, to help you obey this command.

2) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because of the greatness of their number.

One of the reasons that Armistice Day and then Veterans Day were originally recognized is because of the number of soldiers' lives that the first two World Wars claimed. Over 1 million Americans have died fighting in the following wars:

• Revolutionary War - 25,324 dead.
• Civil War - 498,332 dead.
• World War I - 116,708 dead.
• World War II - 407,316 dead.
• Korean War - 54,246 dead.
• Vietnam War - 58,655 dead

In those 218 years between the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the end of the Vietnam War, 1,160,581 Americans were killed in war. That number continues to climb on a daily basis.

On the wall in my study at home, there hangs a poster that shows the top half of the face of a lion. Above and below the lion's eyes, it reads, "It didn't end at the Roman Coliseum. Christians still die." That poster serves as a daily reminder to me that the martyrdom of Christians is not limited to a period in history when Romans threw Christians to the lions as a form of wicked entertainment.

Not only does Christian martyrdom continue today, but it continues at a staggering rate. In fact, more Christians were killed for their faith in the twentieth-century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined.

The website for The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada calls the persecution facing Christians "the largest 'human rights' violation issue in today's world." (I disagree with them--abortion, which has claimed almost 50 million lives since 1973 and continues to claim one innocent life every 23 seconds, is far and away the leading human rights violation. Nevertheless, I will readily admit that the persecution of the Christian church is easily the second largest "human rights" violation issue in today's world.) Listen to these stats:

According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing in their "Missiometrics 2007" report in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 31, No. 1: 32) estimate that approximately 173,000 Christians will have been martyred from mid-2006 to mid-2007. This represents an increase of 1.2% over last year and compares to 160,000 martyrs in mid-2000 and 34,400 at the beginning of the 20th century. If current trends continue, Barrett, Johnson and Crossing estimate that by 2025, an average of 210,000 Christians will be martyred annually. [2]

Those statistics are simply astonishing. In the past twelve months, 173,000 Christians were killed for being Christians. That number exceeds the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam and Korean Wars combined. In fact, it is almost triple the number of Americans killed in either of those wars individually. In the past year, more Christians were killed for their faith than Americans were killed than in the First World War. In the past two and a half years, more Christians were killed for their faith than Americans were killed in World War II.

In 218 years of United States history, 1,160,581 Americans were killed in war. In the past seven years, 1,165,500 Christians were killed for their faith. In the next seven years, another 1,340,500 Christians will be killed for their faith. During the course of this sermon, almost 20 Christians will be killed solely for their faith.

The final number of Christians who endure tribulation for the sake of the Gospel will be far greater than we can count. In fact, in Revelation 7:9-10, John writes:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

In verses 13-14, we find out who this innumerable and international multitude is:

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

The great multitude that no one could number are "the ones coming out of the great tribulation." So, when we sang, "From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, Thro' gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," we were singing about an uncountable, international stream of martyrs.

God's people have been persecuted ever since Cain killed Abel. That event set a pattern for the rest of history. And, ever since the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 and the great persecution that scattered the church in Acts 8, the church has endured great tribulation, distress and suffering. In fact, this hour began with the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus said in John 16:32-33:

Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Scripture pays attention to the number of those who suffer for the Gospel, and so we should too.

3) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because heaven accords them a place of special honor.

Nations give medals, awards and special recognition to those who suffer bravely and die in battle. Monuments are built, often with names engraved, to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their nations.

There is a connection in Scripture between suffering and honor. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11 that it is because Jesus Christ humbled himself in perfect obedience, even to death on a cross, that God highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name.

God's children follow the same path to glory as his Son. Paul tells us in Romans 8:16-17 that we are children of God and heirs with Christ, "provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Likewise, Scripture indicates that God accords a special place of honor for those who suffer for the Gospel. Immediately after the description of the great multitude who came out of the great tribulation, we read in Revelation 7:15-17:

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Notice that this passage begins with "therefore." It is because these saints came out of the tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb that they are before his throne day and night in his temple, sheltered with God's presence, without hunger or thirst, drinking from the springs of living water and having every tear wiped from their eye.

There seems to be a place of special honor for those who actually die for the Gospel. Revelation 6 records a series of judgments that unfold before the Second Coming of Christ, spoken of as seven seals. In verses 9-11, John records this:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

We read of those "who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." These slain believers are found "under the altar." To be "under the altar" was to be under the very throne of God himself. That is why Revelation 7:15 said, "they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence," because they are immediately in the presence of God. There seems to be special care and honor given to those who are killed for their witness.

If God so honors those who suffer for the Gospel, we should too.

4) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because of our intimate and eternal connection with them.

Ask anyone who has served in combat and they will tell you that a special bond exists between them and those they fought beside in war. They are a "band of brothers," who share a bond closer often than that of physical siblings. A bond forms when you share a fox-hole and cover each others backs in the thick of battle.

Nevertheless, there is a limit to the bond that soldiers share. When a Christian soldier and a non-Christian soldier die, they do not both go to join the ranks of a silent company in the sky who march forever though their footsteps are not heard. The Christian goes into the presence of the Lord, while the non-Christian is cast out of the presence of the Lord, and their bond is severed forever.

The bond that joins Christian to Christian is one that is not only intimate, it is eternal; it cannot be severed by time or death.

I did not finish the command that I read earlier from Hebrews 13:3. It ends with the reason we should remember those who are mistreated for the Gospel: "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body." We should remember them, "since you also are in the body." We should remember them because, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are one body with them.

Who is the Persecuted Church? They are our brothers and sisters, our mothers and our fathers, in a truer sense than those of our own flesh and blood or of our own nationality. In Mark 3:31-35, Jesus was in his home teaching and we read:

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus considered those who do the will of God to be his brothers and sisters in a truer sense than his flesh and blood brothers who did not believe in him. A woman in the room who believed in Jesus was more his mother than Mary was, if she was not believing in him at the time. A believing Gentile was more Jesus' brother than his own Jewish countryman who did not believe in him.

One verse, not found in our hymnal, of William How's hymn "For All the Saints," reads:

"O blessed communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle; they in glory shine: Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine: Alleluia!"

We have a blessed communion, a fellowship divine, with the persecuted church. Those who have died shine in glory, while we feebly struggle. Nevertheless, we are one with them, because we with them belong to God through adoption in Jesus Christ.

If we would remember our mother or father, our brother or sister were they in great suffering, then how much more should we remember the suffering church! If our mothers or fathers, our sisters or our brothers do not believe, then our relationship with them ends at death. But, our familial relationship with other believers is truer and deeper and will last for eternity; and therefore we should remember them when they suffer.

5) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because without their sacrifice we would not have the Gospel.

One of the reasons that nations remember their veterans is because blood is the price of peace. Without soldiers who were willing to die in battle, no nation would have freedom.

Of course, the same thing is true with the Gospel. Without the blood of Jesus Christ, we cannot have peace with God. The reason that we speak of him every week and celebrate the Lord's Supper frequently is because we never want to forget what his sufferings accomplished.

The Gospel of the Suffering Servant of God is spread through suffering servants. In Acts 8:1, we read that "there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria." And then, we read in verse 4, "Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word." Great persecution is what led to the scattering of the first missionaries.

And Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the church, was a reflection of the Savior whose Gospel he preached. In 1 Thessalonians 2:2, Paul writes that he declared "the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict."

In 2 Corinthians 11:24-28, Paul described what he endured in spreading the Gospel:

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

In 2 Timothy 2:10, Paul wrote, "I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Paul was willing to endure everything to see the elect obtain salvation.

The reason that we have the books of Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon is because Paul was willing to suffer imprisonment and death to spread the Gospel. The same could be said of the rest of the New Testament. We only have the message of Gospel because Apostles were willing to suffer and die for its truth and to see that truth spread.

If we value the freedom of religion that we enjoy in America and therefore those who died to secure that freedom, then how much more ought we to value those who suffered and died so that we could learn our true religion.

Freedom to read the Word of God is nice, but not necessary. The Word of God is necessary. Freedom to preach and hear the Gospel is nice, but not necessary. The preaching and hearing of the Gospel is necessary. Freedom makes worship and gathering as a church comfortable, but it is not necessary. Christians can and do gather and worship without freedom. It might cost them their lives, but they can do it! But worship and church cannot exist without the Word of God and the preaching of the Gospel.

The reason we have a Bible is because suffering Prophets and Apostles wrote it. The reason that we have English Bibles in our hands this morning to read from is because men like William Tyndale were willing to be burnt at the stake to translate the Bible from its original languages into English.

The Gospel (and the Gospel in English) has come to us through a long line of suffering saints who cherished the Gospel over their own lives. That is how the Gospel is going to spread to the ends of the earth. We in the American church are so fond of bragging of how much money we give to missions. But, we should remember that Jesus said his people--not their money--would be his witnesses (his martyrs) to the ends of the earth. And that is how the Gospel spreads today.

Michael Card tells the true story of Joseph, a young Masai warrior from Africa:

One day Joseph, who was walking along one of these hot, dirty African roads, met someone who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life; he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and share that same Good News with the members of his local tribe.

Joseph began going from door-to-door, telling everyone he met about the Cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered, expecting to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only didn't care, they became violent. The men of the village seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die alone in the bush.

Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a waterhole, and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus incorrectly. After rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back and share his faith once more.

Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. "He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God" he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him, reopening wounds that had just began to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.

To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scarred--and determined to go back.

He returned to the small village and this time, they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably last time, he again spoke to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him began to weep.

This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to Christ." [3]

I would not be surprised if Joseph's story is told in his village until the day that Christ returns. How could they forget it? Without his sacrifice they would not have the Gospel. Only a shallow and self-centered church can exist without remembering their persecuted brothers and sisters who suffer as servants of Christ.

6) We should remember those who suffer for the Gospel because their sufferings showcase the supremacy of Christ.

If you are an unbeliever this morning, or even if you are a believer this morning, I do not want you to leave here thinking that persecuted believers receive salvation and honor by virtue of their own merits. I do not want you to think that the persecuted Christians are worthy of remembrance because of who they are in themselves.

The reason these saints are so important is because their lives are living (and dying) proof that the Gospel is more important than they are. The reason that they are so valuable is because they are living (and dying) proof that the Gospel in infinitely more valuable than they are.

In Hebrews 11:25-26, we read of Moses, that he "chose to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." Why did Moses chose to be persecuted with God's people? We are told, "He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Moses was willing to suffer with God's people because he was looking at the reward. The reward that God offers to those who will bear reproach for Christ is greater than the wealth of Egypt, which is fleeing and passes with time and death.

Jesus told this parable once, as recorded in Matthew 13:44, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." That man is a picture of the Persecuted Church. He suffered the loss of all that he had. He exchanged everything he had on earth, in order to buy that field. Why? We are told he did it "in his joy." He knew that there was greater pleasure to be found in that buried treasure than there was to be found in what he already had.

That is what the Persecuted Church does. They do not earn their salvation. Rather, they prove with their lives and with their deaths that what is freely offered to us in the Gospel is of greater value and can bring greater pleasure than what they might have if they deny the Gospel to enjoy life.

This is the Gospel: We all are sinners and rebels against God. We deserve to suffer in hell for eternity for our offense against a holy God. Yet God, in his great love and mercy, showed us grace by sending his Son Jesus Christ. The Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, because a man, Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life of obedience to God the Father. He was ridiculed, laughed at, mistreated, beaten and finally crucified, yet he never sinned.

The Bible tells us that he was suffering to pay the price for our sins. He offered himself as a sacrifice to suffer beneath the wrath of God, satisfying the demands of God's righteousness.

Then, on the third day, God raised him from the dead, showing that the sacrifice was acceptable and that he was pleased with Jesus. Then, Jesus ascended into heaven, where he sits at God's right hand.

And, he is there at the right hand of the Father as an advocate and a mediator on behalf of all those who believe in him. If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we do sin, we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

When we confess our sin and trust in Jesus Christ, God counts his life of obedience as our righteousness. He counts Jesus' death on the cross as our death to sin. He forgives us and declares us to be righteous in his sight. We have peace by the blood of the cross.

That is the Gospel. The treasure offered to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ far surpasses anything this world could ever afford. Therefore, we are not fools if we give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

Therefore, my prayer for us this morning is that we would get to know our persecuted family. And, through their example, learn anew to cherish the gift of the Gospel above everything else and to be willing to give up all we have to possess it and spread it to the ends of the earth.

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[1] Wikipedia, "Armistice Day," November 9, 2007.

[2] http://www.persecution.net/faq/stats.htm, November 9, 2007

[3] Michael Card, "Wounded in the House of Friends," Virtue, March/April, 1991, pp.28-29, 69.