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Trials and Persecution
In today's passage, Paul brings up afflictions that he and his companions suffered. If you read through yesterday's long introduction and did some connecting with the book of Acts, you definitely saw some of the intense persecution they suffered.
But what about us here in the US? We just finished a sermon series on "suffering", but we didn't really talk a lot about persecution or "trials". Here's one commentators take on what this might mean for us in the USA:
"What form might these “trials” take? The following list is merely suggestive of what a believer might experience:
• an honest employee is fired for disrupting a company’s plans to scam consumers or for blowing the whistle on corruption and fraud;
• a law enforcement officer is ostracized and pushed out of line for a promotion by her fellow officers because she refuses to lie in order to cover up misconduct by another officer;
• a college student, the only Christian in her family, is excluded from family activities because after her graduation, she (at least from their perspective) disappoints and embarrasses her family by joining a missions organization working in the inner city rather than taking a “good job”;
• high school students experience hostility in taking a stand in an environment where social status and standing is heavily dependent on the extent to which one uses alcohol and/or drugs or is sexually active;
• families who refuse to buy into the consumer mentality of our culture, and thereby implicitly challenge those who do, are rejected by neighbors and friends;
• persons or groups who insist that as a society we do what is right and just, rather than what is merely legal or profitable, experience hostility;
• a teacher who refuses parents who demand that their child be given a grade higher than that earned by the student’s work receives harsh criticism;
• a person whose consistent pro-life ethic includes opposition not only to abortion but to the death penalty as well finds himself or herself as a “persecuted minority.”
Regardless of what we may experience in countries where Christianity enjoys a certain measure of freedom, protection, and even occasionally respect, the circumstances are vastly different in many other countries. There are substantial numbers of Christians in the world today who find themselves in a situation—that of a persecuted minority facing opposition or attack by a socially dominant group—unambiguously comparable to that of the Thessalonians. These sisters and brothers know all too well the reality of “trials” experienced for the sake of the gospel. In countries such as Laos, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and China (to mention only some), it is dangerous if not illegal to practice Christianity, and afflictions similar to those experienced by Paul and the Thessalonians—including church burnings or closings, harassment, fines, arrest, and/or imprisonment—are a constant and present reality." [1]
Take some time to think about and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ today. Get involved. Here are a few ways:
Send a Bible to a persecuted Christian:
http://www.biblesunbound.com/qry/mc_home.taf
These are just a few ways to get involved. Don't forget to pray!
Trials and Persecution
In today's passage, Paul brings up afflictions that he and his companions suffered. If you read through yesterday's long introduction and did some connecting with the book of Acts, you definitely saw some of the intense persecution they suffered.
But what about us here in the US? We just finished a sermon series on "suffering", but we didn't really talk a lot about persecution or "trials". Here's one commentators take on what this might mean for us in the USA:
"What form might these “trials” take? The following list is merely suggestive of what a believer might experience:
• an honest employee is fired for disrupting a company’s plans to scam consumers or for blowing the whistle on corruption and fraud;
• a law enforcement officer is ostracized and pushed out of line for a promotion by her fellow officers because she refuses to lie in order to cover up misconduct by another officer;
• a college student, the only Christian in her family, is excluded from family activities because after her graduation, she (at least from their perspective) disappoints and embarrasses her family by joining a missions organization working in the inner city rather than taking a “good job”;
• high school students experience hostility in taking a stand in an environment where social status and standing is heavily dependent on the extent to which one uses alcohol and/or drugs or is sexually active;
• families who refuse to buy into the consumer mentality of our culture, and thereby implicitly challenge those who do, are rejected by neighbors and friends;
• persons or groups who insist that as a society we do what is right and just, rather than what is merely legal or profitable, experience hostility;
• a teacher who refuses parents who demand that their child be given a grade higher than that earned by the student’s work receives harsh criticism;
• a person whose consistent pro-life ethic includes opposition not only to abortion but to the death penalty as well finds himself or herself as a “persecuted minority.”
Regardless of what we may experience in countries where Christianity enjoys a certain measure of freedom, protection, and even occasionally respect, the circumstances are vastly different in many other countries. There are substantial numbers of Christians in the world today who find themselves in a situation—that of a persecuted minority facing opposition or attack by a socially dominant group—unambiguously comparable to that of the Thessalonians. These sisters and brothers know all too well the reality of “trials” experienced for the sake of the gospel. In countries such as Laos, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and China (to mention only some), it is dangerous if not illegal to practice Christianity, and afflictions similar to those experienced by Paul and the Thessalonians—including church burnings or closings, harassment, fines, arrest, and/or imprisonment—are a constant and present reality." [1]
Take some time to think about and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ today. Get involved. Here are a few ways:
- Learn about persecuted Christians:
- Write letters to or pray for Christians in prison for their faith:
Send a Bible to a persecuted Christian:
http://www.biblesunbound.com/qry/mc_home.taf
These are just a few ways to get involved. Don't forget to pray!
[1] Michael Holmes, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 107-08.
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