Martyr

There’s this table, the woodgrain rough and the plates and glasses arranged neatly. The table seats are innumerable, and the food is more than the eye and stomach can handle, but it isn’t the food that’s amazing, it’s who is around it. Let’s imagine some of the Biblical greats sitting around a table talking about their fate. Imagine their conversations and their testimony. Some would go like this; “You read I got thrown in a lion’s den for praying right?”, “ I had to hide my pregnancy and my baby and never have a baby shower”, “We got thrown into a fiery furnace and didn’t burn! You should’ve seen the king’s face!”, “I got beat, thrown out of town, left for dead, but walked back into the city again,”, “I got stoned to death for preaching and serving God!”, “I got thrown into a pit because my brothers hated me, then rescued only to be put into prison later!”, “I was told to build an ark for 120 years while people laughed and called me and God names!”, “I was given a choice to curse God and die, I watched my family die, my fortune vanish and my health go away,”, “I got burned at the stake while singing hymns because I was a Christian”; “I got my head served on a platter because I loved Jesus;” “I was a missionary that was tortured and killed because I loved Jesus”; “I got swallowed by a whale and a whole town got right with God.”  Everyone got silent. There were plenty of more people at the table some who were named in the famous book, the Bible and there were others who were not named but had a life story and testimony that would rock the world if they only knew. So many people throughout the years have died for the faith even at the hands of other religions because of Jesus. Jesus died at the hands of the Roman government and the religious leaders who relied more on tradition and power than on God’s love. “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Hebrews 11:36-40.” These poor people we cry! But this is still going on today, we just don’t hear about it as much. In fact, statistics have shown that, “Research for the List indicates that each day, a staggering 11 Christians are killed for their faith in the top 50 countries ranked on the World Watch List. (opendoorsusa.org)” 11 lives are lost each day on average, that may not seem like a high number considering the diseases and random accidents, but these are not random accidents or diseases, these are people killing other people because of their beliefs!  Hebrews 11 recounts all the Bible heroes we know and love but then in adds that at the end about the ones unnamed who suffered for their faith and adds, “of whom the world was not worthy.” The world. The very people who crucified Jesus were the very people crucifying, torturing and mocking Christians. The most prolific writer in the Bible in fact was a man who saw both sides of the faith, as an outsider and as an insider. He stood at the feet as Stephen was stoned to death for being a Christ-follower and prayed not to lay this sin to their charge. Saul was a very smart man, learned in the Jewish tradition, knowing many languages and customs of the law. He heard of these Jesus followers. He knew they believed Jesus was the Messiah. Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was to find more Christians to beat up and kill. Yet, Jesus had a profound effect on Saul’s life, God had Saul’s named to Paul and Paul became just as energetic for God and Jesus Christ as he was against. His zeal was the same but his motive different. Paul writes, “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:11-17.” Imagine today if we were faced with imminent death, would we spread the gospel or keep our mouths shut? Hard to say, but back then they didn’t hold back. They loved God so much that they gave their life. They took Romans 12:1-2 to heart. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  In 1563, before the King James Bible was published, John Foxe wrote a book about martyrs of the Christian faith that were killed and said, "When the Christians, upon these occasions, received martyrdom, they were ornamented, and crowned with garlands of flowers; for which they, in heaven, received eternal crowns of glory."- John Foxe. This book is very detailed and gory, but it shows the lengths that people go to proclaim the gospel and the depravity of man that hates a loving God. Stephen, a man who was blessed by God to spread the gospel started his ministry. “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” Acts 6:8.  But for all the good that Stephen did, people still didn’t like it, not one bit. “Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: Acts 6:11-13.” When you are trying to live a godly life, pleasing to Him, there will be people coming out of the woodworks to destroy your testimony and your reputation. You may become a pariah of your family, your friends, your co-workers because of who you represent, even if you aren’t spreading the gospel daily but just living a life pleasing to God and doing His will, people will still resent that because their spirit can’t get along with yours. So, here’s Stephen, doing all these great things and people talking about him. He didn’t let that bother him. He preached the message of his life, a wonderful message that spans Acts 6 and 7 and recounts from Abraham until their present time of how God preserved the Israelites and how God sent the Messiah, Jesus Christ to save the world from their sins but instead of listening to the emboldened young man or even walking away they went further. Stephen didn’t pull any punches and God’s words flowed through him as he spoke; “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Stephen told them they came from a long line of Jesus haters, that not worshipping Jesus meant they weren’t worshipping God Almighty. He called them out on killing the prophets of Christ. They got mad, I mean really mad, “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” There’s a whole message in there about Jesus standing, please see this week’s question. Can you imagine Stephen? Seeing the glory of God? What a rush! But that was to come to an end in a moment, “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,” These religious men, stopped their ears, grabbed Stephen up and threw him out of the city. They could’ve been done, but oh no. They were far from done. “And cast him out of the city, and stoned him:” Stoning wasn’t just one rock, or pebble, these are large rocks and the usually bury a person up to their neck or just grab stones and hit them on the head, it wasn’t a quick death either way. And as always, a crowd formed to watch the happenings, and this was true then as it is now. “and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:51-60.” Stephen was bleeding, unrecognizable but calling on the name of the Lord, and at the last said, “Lay not this sin to their charge”. The final words of a dying man were not of anger but compassion. He died not knowing whose lives he had changed. Yet there was one man in the crowd who saw the whole thing go down. A young man by the name of Saul, who we know was Paul because he said, “And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. Acts 22:19-20.” Stephen was a martyr of God and because of that a life was changed later. It stuck with Saul, the compassion of Stephen in the midst of being stoned, he never told them to stop, or apologized for his words, he kept praising God and ask God to forgive those who were killing him. Imagine the impact on the lives of the people.

It has never been easy to be a Christian but today we have more religious freedoms than ever and yet we are failing. The Christian faith while strong, isn’t gaining converts to the faith. Why? Because we are in a different society. A society where freedom of religion is tolerated, and we can freely worship and pray in public without fear of being killed or stoned (in our country). But that doesn’t mean it isn’t easy to share our faith. Daily we see attacks on Christians from the media, from so called intellectuals and from other religions. When we became a Christian, we had no idea what God had in store for us and each day is something new for us to encounter. “And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:30-34.” We need to try to show the knowledge of God to others, by just being a living, walking testimony. We aren’t promised tomorrow but we are told to awake to righteousness and sin not. Christ died for us, likewise we should let our flesh that sinful part that goes against God die, as Paul says, so we should say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.” We are in a different class of people than those who physically give their life for the name of the gospel. Who dodge bullets, swords, and burnings daily to get the gospel out. There are places today that the Bible is banned, and people cherish just one page of a Bible or song book, never having the ability to hold a full Bible in their hand. Perhaps you support a missionary or know a missionary that gives up the trappings of the world to share the gospel with others. But did you know that God is calling us all to be missionaries? Don’t go buy your airline ticket yet…. God calls us to be ambassadors. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20.” You can be an ambassador in your own backyard! Your neighbor may have never heard of Christ. You’d be surprised at the children who haven’t heard of Noah’s Ark or Jesus dying on the cross in your own neighborhood. I’ve met 20-year old’s who never darkened the door of a church that knew nothing about God, the Bible, or any religion but through hard times wanted to learn more about God’s love. And that was in my hometown! We may not face the persecutions that other Christians face---yet. But it is coming one day. We can see the tides changing. We can feel the oppression, the hatred, the people taking sides and yelling “Offensive” when promoting God’s word truly and in biblically correct ways. Those days will come, for the Bible tells us so; Paul wrote to Timothy; “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:1-12.” Don’t be surprised when people leave you because you’re a Jesus’ freak, a Bible thumper, ‘found religion’, or whatever other name they can find. Live your life pleasing to God. Like Paul did, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ ,Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:” Amen. This world is not our home! We’re just a passing through! “To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” There are people out there preaching in the name of God for profit, power, and perverseness, don’t follow them! If it doesn’t line up with God’s word, throw it out! Don’t let people scam you for their gain. Paul says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:1-12.” People won’t like the sacrifices you make, “Oh, that’s right, you have church on Sunday, sorry you can’t come.”; “Oh, Wednesday night service too? You’ll miss all the fun!”. An average person who attends church 3 hours a week (twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday) must use this as a recharge but it shouldn’t be the only time to seek God. There are 168 hours in a week. So if you go to church for 3 of those, let’s say you sleep for 8 hours a day, that’s 56 hours, leaving us with  109 hours left, if you work 8 hours (add or subtract more), that’s 40 hours, which equals 69 hours of free time, not counting the time at work, and just three of those 69 hours are used for church, which gives us 66 hours of “us” time. It may not seem like it with errands, overtime, and the kids’ extracurriculars. Only 3 hours are used up in worshipping God with other people. May we use some of that free time and even some work time to show the world what a godly person is, no matter what befalls us. Our time is precious and some people don’t get to see the full extent of their life because of events that shorten it, so let’s make it count and while we may not face the enemies sword, or feel in physical harm because of our faith, we do feel discouraged. We’re all given a duty to be an ambassador for God whether it’s in prayer, in conversation, writing, teaching, preaching, or just living a daily life pleasing to God, it’s all a mission field! “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:16-17.” Pray for each other, pray for your fellow Christians, don’t tear them down because of where they go, uplift them, thank them for being a good example of Christ. We shouldn’t walk around defeating others and tripping them up, we should be an example of Jesus and uplift and empower others to fulfill their purpose that God has laid on their hearts, whether it’s to be a missionary in a foreign field or an ambassador in your neighborhood, school, or work place, it is still an important call that we must listen to and obey. We may not be martyrs like some of these people who’ve risked it all for the sake of Christ, but may their examples give us hope that there is something greater to live for. A good quote says, “Faith laughs at the shaking of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf. Richard Cecil.”  Something risking your life, your reputation, your plans, because Jesus did that for you, we can do that for Him. Live boldly in Christ each and every day! You may never know who’ll be around your table!