Sermon Date: February 18, 2007
INTRODUCTION:
Sharing our faith… being obedient to the call of Christ is NOT an option and we cannot dictate the circumstances under which we will be obedient or disobedient.
So many of us look to the missionaries of old and praise them for their courage and boldness in sharing Christ with those around them, but we rarely share with those around us…
As believers, we tend to get excited when Lottie Moon Christmas and Annie Armstrong Easter offering time rolls around! We also talk a lot about the Southern Baptist mission efforts around the world… BUT just what are WE doing to share the love of Christ with the world around us?
It is a given that we are going to be ridiculed and mocked for sharing our faith, so we expect that… BUT what I want to speak with you about is the upcoming storm in this country where Christians are not just going to be mocked and made fun of, but they are going to be chastised, lied about and even killed for their obedience in sharing God’s message of salvation!
Today we are going to be looking at these 3 particular types of persecution that we will eventually face if this world continues down the path it is going!
Now I want you to understand, I am NO prophet, but the signs are there showing us that the world does NOT want Christianity to survive! And sooner or later… it is just a matter of time to when people will be actively seeking the death and destruction of those who believe as we do!
We can see this evident in the Muslim world today, but look at our country… look how much the Christian worldview of our nation has degraded until today it is merely a shell and shadow of what we were when this nation was founded!
For many people America is a declining and decadent country because of all of the immorality and irresponsibility! And I agree that immorality has played a part in the demise of this great nation BUT understand this important point!
We are where we are today because the church has been unwilling and now is almost unable to speak the message of Christ and the message of hope to the world around them!
For far too long believers have cocooned themselves inside their churches and on their committees and in their little circle of Christian friends… and the world has went down… down… down!
We cannot blame the demise of our culture and society on the immorality of society, but we must look squarely in the mirror and see the ONE who is ultimately responsible and that is the church.
In 2 Chron 7:14 the bible tells us, “If MY people who are called by MY Name shall humble themselves and pray and turn from THEIR wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and then will I heal their land!”
We are the reason the world is NOT responding to the Gospel because we have NOT taken serious the plan that Christ laid forth for the early church…
Today I want us to look at 3 different situations where the believers involved took on the responsibility of their new found salvation and began to share Christ… regardless of what it brought upon them!
In our 1st example we can see that…
1. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE TO BE OBEDIENT WHEN WE ARE CHASTISED (4:1-4)
1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Acts 4:1-4 (NKJV)
Peter and John were saved and they wanted the world to know what they had… they were simply sharing the good news when some other men came to them and said, “Hey you can’t say things like that…” Peter and John told them that they could NOT stop saying these things because Christ had saved them and they wanted all to know the good news about Christ!
We can see that their sincerity was evident in what they were saying and many came to know Jesus because of their boldness in speaking the Gospel even when they were chastised NOT to do it…
There are many places around our nation that simply refuse to allow open Christian evangelization… they discourage it and have even made it a criminal offense in some cases!
But I want us to understand that even though the government of our nation may not recognize our right to share the good news…. God does and God expects us to share about Him!
I know this may sound a bit radical, but I dare you to begin to pray about what God wants you to do at your workplace! I can almost bet you that it is His desire that more and more come to know Christ as Savior… God is not interested in political correctness, but He is interested in lost souls!
What about you today? Are you stumbling over what God has placed at your feet because you cannot or will not take responsibility because you don’t what to get in trouble!
Peter and John did not care who said they could NOT share Christ… they only knew that Christ has commanded THEM to share with the world around them!
We are also called to share to the world around us, share Christ to a world that hates and reviles Him! Share Christ to those who don’t know Him! But not only is it our responsibility to be obedient when chastisement has come, but I can also see a couple of chapters over where…
2. WE ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE TO BE OBEDIENT WHEN WE ARE THE TARGET OF LIES (6:9-11):
8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. Acts 6:8-9 (NKJV)
We find Stephen to be a man of upstanding and moral character, as it is said early in this chapter.
How many times have you heard stories about believers that turned out to be NOT true but they were just lies used to bring our witness down…
When we begin to live for the Lord we need to understand that Satan is going to come against us in a mighty way…and it is his desire to destroy us all.
Many Christians will NEVER face death or anything like that, but we WILL face the lies and mistruths of others so that we can be put down and they can be lifted up!
The church is under attack today and we must understand that each and every day it gets worse and worse. If many had their way, church services would be shortened or done away with…
But even though we have people who do NOT like us or do NOT want to share Christ, we have the responsibility to share Christ!
• We need to realize that people are going to talk bad about us…
• We need to realize that people are going to make things up about us…
• We need to understand that even though we may NOT do anything wrong… people will tell lies to discredit us!
Satan does NOT want us to share our faith and he will do whatever it takes to silence us… even if it is with deception and lies! Just remember that Satan seeks to destroy you… like Peter writes…
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NKJV)
We are responsible for sharing our faith and being obedient to Christ and His call on our lives when we are the target of lies and when we are being picked on at work or at school…
But there is ONE more example I want to look at and it is the completion of the Stephen story in Chapter 7 of Acts, and this is where we can see that
3. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE TO BE OBEDIENT EVEN WHEN OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE (7:54-60):
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:54-60 (NKJV)
So often we simply do not believe that it is our duty to get into a dangerous situation for Christ! Stephen understood his responsibility to share Christ, even when people were lying about him and when people wanted to do harm to him… he still shared Christ! He was bold and stood in the gap!
Today we have lost that boldness about us… we no longer believe it is our responsibility to share Christ REGARDLESS of where we are and who we are around! We have become the church of the politically correct!
We are told that we cannot share our faith on the job, and we have succumbed to that pressure.
We are told that we cannot share our faith in the public sector because we have to keep the church out of the state… although the separation of Church and State that Jefferson was speaking about was to keep the STATE out of the church… it was NEVER to keep God out of government!
We have people who believe that you have to live out your Christianity in secret and in private… that it has NO place in the public sector!
Well I beg to differ! God’s word does not instruct us to Go forth preaching and teaching and baptizing only when we are allowed to… only when we are given permission by the world… it simply tells us that we must GO!
And we must go NO matter where and no matter what situation! There were several Christians who were shot and murdered in Iraq a few years ago because they felt the responsibility to share Christ in Muslim nation where sharing Jesus is against the law!
There is a story of 5 young missionaries in the 1950’s that went to South America to be missionaries for Christ and by their actions we KNOW that they understood what the Great Commission is all about!
Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming, and Roger Youderian all knew that the Woadoni tribe of the Amazon basin was a vicious and dangerous tribe.
But they also knew that the Woadoni DID not have the Savior! And in the 1950’s we find that God brought them to the brink of sharing their faith with these people and even though there were SERIOUS dangers, they were NOT about to back down.
Watch this video as a missionary father consoles his son, when his son asks him a question about protecting himself!
Insert video here…
The story is a sad one from the human perspective because Jim, Nate, Ed, Pete and Roger all were killed by the Woadoni tribesmen! There was danger but they knew that did not relieve them of their responsibility to share Christ!
Nate Saint was convinced that it was his responsibility to share Christ with the Woadoni tribe… even if it meant giving his life to do so!
And like Nate, Jim, Ed, Pete and Roger… we TOO have the same responsibility to share Christ with the world around us… it doesn’t matter WHAT the circumstances are… we have a responsibility… are you ready and willing to live up to YOUR responsibility today!
CONCLUSION:
We can NO longer pass the buck to another generation of believers! We are called by God to share His word to the world around us…
We are called to share that God loves his creation and that even though we are sinners, God loves us and has taken steps to save us…even though we have done NOTHING for Him!
The bible shares with us that “…But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…” Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
Christ has shown His love for us, and for those of us who have accepted Him as Savior, it is time for you to show your love for Him by living a life that is worthy of the calling you have in Christ Jesus.
You need to live a life that reflects Jesus in ALL things you do! Live a life that reaches out in love and changes lives through love!
Today I am calling you to give your heart and soul to him today! Come as Bro Jerry comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation “Are you washed in the blood”
