Henry says to Melinda: “I can’t believe it. What do you have to smile about? Weren’t you harassed, threatened, beaten, whipped, and kicked out of your city? Weren’t you forced to leave everything behind – your home, your relatives and your jobs?”
Melinda: “Yes, on the one hand, it was not easy, but really, everything can be stripped away from us, but we still have Christ. I consider it an honour to suffer rejection for His Name’s sake.”
Henry: “Pardon? I don’t understand. You must be emotionally disturbed. Your thinking is bizarre! Where is this Christ of whom you speak? You speak as if He is present with you. I don’t see Him standing at your side!”
Calmly, with love, Melinda, the Christian, would explain the reality of Christ in her heart. But really, she didn’t have to do much explaining. Everything about Melinda – her face, her calmness, her kindness, her smile, her words and her priorities – everything about her convinced Henry that Christ was a living reality in her life. She had the incredible joy of leading the man to Christ.
Now whether Melinda was her name or not, we don’t know. And whether it was Henry who asked her about her faith – we don’t know that either. We just know that over and over again in those early years – a story like that repeated itself multiple times.
Hundreds of these stories happened each day, and thousands were led to Christ in the early days of the Church. Why? Simply because the peace and joy of Christ radiated from their lives 24/7 – proof positive that what they had was real and worth going after.
Perceived Persecution may not be Biblical Persecution
Christians back then did not waste their time trying to change politics or influence government policies. Christians then were not despised for being mouthpieces for right-wing or left-wing ideologies. They weren’t despised for carrying Jesus signs in one hand and popular slogans in the other. They weren’t persecuted for disturbing the peace or disrupting traffic, or seeking to draw attention to themselves. Unlike what we often see today, and very sadly too – their actions and behaviour did not contradict the very character of Jesus and New Testament teachings about Christian testimony.
Perceived persecution may be nothing more than suffering the consequences of unwise Christian behaviour. Don’t mislabel it! Having said that, their are hundreds of thousands of Godly, quiet, humble, Christians in other parts of the world who are suffering great persecution for the very same reason the early Christians did.
No, the early Christians were persecuted only because their first allegiance was to Christ and not the Roman emperor. They weren’t persecuted because of their nasty, belligerent, loud-mouthed behaviour at rallies and protests. They weren’t hated because they insisted on adding their ‘uninvited’ two cents worth to the day’s hot topics in the Empire. We should never mistake society’s reaction or government’s reactive intervention due to our annoying or disruptive behaviour – as persecution for being a Christian. That would only be suffering the consequences for unChrist-like behaviour.
Biblical persecution for Christ is when we own our allegiance to Christ and quietly and peacefully reflect His humility, gentleness, respect and compassion – living in the midst of a secular and godless society. Get this – early Christians were persecuted for their loyalty and love for Christ reflected in their morally upright lives of humility and integrity. Full stop!
The title of this Bible Bite is ‘God wants you to be a preacher.’ In Acts Chapter 8, at least two kinds of preaching are mentioned.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. Acts 8:4-5
Who was scattered abroad, and who preached the word everywhere they went? Matilda, Jake, Hannah, Matthias, Harry, Wendell, Rose, Victoria, Bob, Martha, Marjorie, Miriam, Jeremiah, Colin, Arthur, Vanessa and all the rest of the Christians! The first word translated as “preaching” in this verse – simply means they went everywhere “telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ” to every person they met.
If you were suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and a drug was discovered that guaranteed a swift and immediate cure, wouldn’t you want to tell everybody else who had ALS how it worked for you? It would almost be criminal NOT to tell them. And you would probably also tell people who didn’t have ALS – just because you were so thrilled with the cure. The cashier. The telemarketer. The cab driver. The teacher. The loans officer.
Haven’t you had the experience of “just bursting to tell the good news” about something to someone?
Day to Day Living for Christ
Has Christ changed my life and my eternal destiny? Does the bus driver know? The flight attendant? The waiter? The receptionist? My neighbour? My mechanic? My classmate? Can they see in my face the joy that Christ brings to my life? Can they see how my attitude is changing for the better – and my behaviour too?
The second word for ‘preach’ in the verse above means standing behind a podium with a microphone in your hand or in a community center surrounded by an audience or in a stadium preaching to thousands. That kind of preaching may not be your thing. But none of us can squirm our way out of our duty to preach the Word to people we meet. Our upright, honest and blameless lives, and our priorities, interests, joyful countenances, and godly humility should preach a sermon to the world every day.
If telling others about Jesus had been left to only those who stand behind podiums, the Gospel would have spread as slowly as a turtle walks or as a snail crawls. The acceleration in souls being saved happened and still happens when every Christian shares Christ through daily behaviours – actions, reactions and interactions.
Make it your daily prayer to have the courage to tell someone each day about Christ. In addition to your godly life, you can do it either by words from your mouth or by simply passing someone a good gospel paper and saying: “Here’s a story I enjoyed reading. You might like it too. And get yourself a coffee with this little tip!” Say it all in one breath with a friendly smile on your face. Don’t ask them if they would like to have one. Just give it to them with some paper money.
Every time you tell someone else about Christ and they see the undeniable reality in your life – you are doing exactly what God really wants you to do. You are ‘preaching,’ and God wants all of us to be that kind of preacher.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ,
Peter Ramsay