The world has changed dramatically. A few years ago, it was an honor to be known as a Christian. Now it is almost sacrilege to say that you are a child of God. Christians are now being persecuted throughout the world. 2020 there we more people killed for their faith than any other previous year.
What is more “frightening” is that persecution has now entered countries that have been known for freedom of speech. In the USA, people are now taken to court for having a cross on their front door, for singing in their houses in small groups, BLM is acting against people that do not submit to their doctrine. And of we look at the Word of God, it will get worse. In a short while we may have to choose between living or die for Christ.
What amazes me is that governments are locking down churches to prevent people from worship. If they knew the Bible they would realize that Christians has been commanded by God to be subservient to the leaders of the country. They are more trustworthy that non-believers. We are even commanded to love our enemies.
The question that is asked today is: Are you willing to die for Jesus?
Let us look at Scripture to give us guidance.
1. Luke 9:23 - Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Taking up your cross and following Jesus suggest that we need to be prepared for persecution and even death. Jesus was not guilty, yet he chose to be within the will of God and died on the cross for us. If we live according to the will of God, the road will at times be tough and could lead to physical death
2. Matthew 10:38-40 - 38 “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
3. Matthew 10:32-34 - 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. What would you do if you stood in front of a firing squad and you know that you can save your life by denying Christ? Doing that, you are denying Christ. Your destiny will be eternal death. Not denying Christ, Jesus will intercede for us and we will see the Kingdom of God. Physical life is not worthy of saving if it will end in eternal death.
4. Luke 21:15-17 - 15 “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me.” Hatred is a strong word. But as children of God, that has become our reality. We need to understand that those that are not for God is against God and is from the evil one. It is part of his strategy to get us to deny God. Threatening with physical death is his way of getting us to want to save our lives at the cost of everlasting life.
5. John 8:50-52 - 50 “I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” What a wonderful promise. We, if we are true to God, we will live forever. Death is only a door to heaven.
6. Acts 7:54-60 The Stoning of Stephen: 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. When we look at the death of Stephen, we notice the following:
a. He was full of the Holy Spirit
b. He had no fear
c. He saw the glory of God
d. He was trusting God to receive his spirit
e. He prayed, like Jesus to forgive his enemy
f. He fell asleep. It indicates that he had absolute peace when he died. I believe he did not even feel pain of the stoning. What a glorious experience. I believe you and I, if we have to be martyrs, we will experience the same.
We, as children of God must prepare ourselves to be potentially put to death for who we believe in. It may never happen, but if we deny the possibility, we will not be prepared when it happens. You will not be able to really put yourself in that position now, but if it happened, God will surely be with you and give you the strength to overcome. What God ask of us not is to be obedient to His calling, to do His will. That is an active choice.
What will you choose? Life or death?
Comments