Yesterday was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I don’t normally use the blog as a venue to pass along my sermons, but with yesterday in mind, I wanted to pass along the core of yesterday’s sermon, a meditation of sorts on Hebrews 13:3:

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is an uncomfortable day for many; uncomfortable for many because it is an intentional international reminder of what they face everyday; persecution for their faith. The term martyr originally referred to someone giving witness to religious truth but it has come to mean someone who is killed because of their religious convictions. Martyrdom is the pinnacle of persecution and the persecution of Christians is a reality, even today:

“Statistics from the January 2006 edition of the International Journal of Missionary Research tell us that 171,000 Christians were martyred in” 2005.

“the World Evangelical Alliance estimates that 200 million Christians live in societies where they daily face the threat of being imprisoned, tortured, and killed because of their identity as Christians.”

“more Nigerian Christians died in the first week of November, 2001 than in the World Trade Towers,” yet “very few noticed. And no one has established a memorial fund for their families (referenced here).”

It’s estimated that every third day, an act of violence is committed against a Christian in India specifically because of his/her Christianity. For many, today is a painful reminder of the reality they face everyday: persecution crouching at the doorstep. For others though, the day is uncomfortable because it forces our attention to an issue we would rather ignore or that we have actually forgotten about. Sadly, many believe that persecution ended in Rome and it’s a problem we “civilized” people no longer face but that just isn’t the case. One of the greatest problems facing the American Church today is complacency. We have it quite easy and we live a comfortable faith. We are sheltered from the harsh realities many of our brothers and sisters face daily and we forget that our situation is not the norm. If someone slams a door in our face or calls us a name we cry that we’ve been persecuted against. But the truth is that we are subtly being lulled into ineffectiveness and most of us know nothing of persecution.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, by God’s grace, survived fourteen years of imprisonment and unspeakable torture at the hands of Communist authorities. After his miraculous release, Wurmbrand went on to found the ministry The Voice of the Martyrs which keeps the spotlight of attention and prayer on those who continue to suffer persecution while also trying to aid those being persecuted. In his book Tortured For Christ, Wurmbrand writes:

I suffer in the West more than I did in Communist lands . I tremble because of the sufferings of those persecuted in different lands. I tremble thinking about the eternal destiny of their torturers. I tremble for Western Christians who don’t help their persecuted brethren. The West sleeps and must be awakened to see the plight of captive nations.

The truth is that our relative life of ease makes us forget that many across the earth do not have the same luxuries; it makes us forget that persecution against Christians is not going away, in fact, it’s on the rise. Men, women, boys and girls are daily beaten, tortured and killed for their faith while we slumber in the cradle of ease. That is why the writer to the Hebrews says:

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

The first eleven chapters of the book of Hebrews contain nearly no exhortations, no direct commands. Rather, they are nearly straight theology and it is only in the last two chapters that the writer applies these deep theological truths. These commands are not an afterthought but a direct outgrowth of the truths explored. This is what we refer to as the relationship between the indicative and the imperative. Indicative statements tell us what is true; they teach, while imperative statements tell us what to do, they give commands. In Scripture the relationship between the two is important and we must understand that almost always in Scripture, imperative statements follow indicative statements. In other words, we are commanded to live in certain ways only because of what is already true about us in Christ.

Nearly every NT epistle utilizes this relationship and we miss much if we don’t grasp it. If we simply focus on the imperatives, we find ourselves striving in our own flesh to meet standards we cannot meet: we wear the noose of legalism as a necktie thinking it looks good without realizing it’s actually our destruction. On the other hand, if we just focus on the indicative statements, the teaching, the doctrine and the theology, we have big heads and empty hearts. Our study of theology must result in greater love for God which demonstrates itself in greater obedience. It’s telling that as the writer of Hebrews moves from the theological teaching to the outworking in his readers lives, he commands them:

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

This verse is essentially broken up into two distinct parts that actually overlap:

• Remember those who are in prison and those who are mistreated.
• As though in prison with them, since you are also in the body.

• Remember those who are in prison and those who are mistreated

We are told to remember two distinct groups of people: those who are in prison and those who are mistreated. The implication here is that they are in prison and being mistreated for their faith as Paul had been on numerous occasions:.

Colossians 4:18: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Paul had been imprisoned for his faith and was ultimately executed. Many believers throughout the ages have been imprisoned. It’s interesting that the writer of Hebrews closes chapter 12 by reminding us that the kingdom of God cannot be shaken because our God is a consuming fire. He then immediately opens chapter 13 with the injunction to let brotherly love continue. He then tells us how by urging us to show hospitality and then moves to verse 3 reminding us to remember those who are in prison and those who are being mistreated.

Surely he means more than just every once in a while thinking to ourselves in the midst of our daily routines, oh, right, there are some believers who are in prison and who are being mistreated. This word mistreated only hints at the realities many believers around the world face on a regular basis. Christians in Eritrea are often placed in metal containers with very little air space, maybe just a tiny hole, letting in just enough air to sustain life and with no restroom capacities. These metal containers are then placed out in the middle of the desert and left for dead. The result is a combination of dehydration, suffocation and heat stroke. Churches across the world are regularly burned or bull-dozed to the ground. Families are separated, people are shot, stabbed, hacked with machetes, branded, doused with acid, made to consume human waste, and many are kidnapped in broad daylight, whisked away to unthinkable conditions. Such was the case of Pastor Wurmbrand:

I worked in both an official and underground manner until February 29, 1948. On that beautiful Sunday, on my way to church, I was kidnapped from the street by the secret police .

Wurmbrand writes of some of what he saw and experienced:

A pastor was tortured with red-hot iron pokers and with knives and beaten very badly. Starving rats were driven into his cell through a large pipe. He could not sleep because he had to defend himself all the time. If he rested a moment, the rats would attack him. He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and night. The Communists wished to compel him to betray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly. Handcuffs with sharp nails on the insides were placed on our wrists. If we were totally still, they didn’t cut us. But in the bitterly cold cells, when we shook with cold, our wrists would be torn by the nails.

Christians were hung upside-down on ropes and beaten so severely that their bodies swung back and forth under the blows. Christians were also place in ice-box “refrigerator cells,” which were so cold that frost and ice covered the inside. I was thrown into one while I had very little clothing on. Prison doctors would watch through an opening until they saw symptoms of freezing to death, then they would give a signal and guards would rush in to take us out and make us warm. When we were finally warmed, we would immediately be put back into the ice-box cells to freeze. Thawing out, then freezing to within minutes of death, then being thawed out – over and over again! Even today there are times when I can’t bear to open a refrigerator.

We Christians were sometimes forced to stand in wooden boxes only slightly larger than we were. This left no room to move. Dozens of sharp nails were driven into every side of the box, with their razor-sharp points sticking through the wood. While we stood perfectly still, it was all right. But we were forced to stand for endless hours; when we became fatigued and swayed with tiredness, the nails would pierce our bodies. If we moved or twitched a muscle – there were the horrible nails .

Remember those who are in prison and those who are mistreated. Remember them in your prayers. Prayer is our direct communication to God and what we pray for reveals much about the state and health of our spiritual lives. Too many of our prayers are saturated in self, focused on what we want, what we think we need, what we think is best for us, but true prayer draws us out of ourselves and focuses our hearts on others. What’s interesting though is that our first thought is to pray that God would immediately end the persecution. We want suffering to end quickly, but Scripture tells us that it always has a purpose:

Philippians 1:29: For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake

Have you ever thought about the power of Paul’s statement? He tells the Philippians that God has granted them, not just to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. When was the last time you thought of suffering as being granted from God? God tells us that He uses even suffering to work His purposes and His image in our lives:

James 1:2-4: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Though we might pray for the persecution to end, it seems that from a biblical perspective, a better prayer is that God would use it to strengthen His church. It is not an understatement to say that those facing persecution, those knowing the cost of their faith often stand stronger than those in more “civilized” countries where one of our greatest enemies is apathy. God promises His people that He will use even trials to shape His people. In trials, even in persecution, He shows us that He is our supreme and sufficient hope, that everything else will fail us. He uses persecution to separate the faithful from the faithless. In American churches, many never have their faith tested, the result is that we have many rocky soils, many shallow soils, masquerading as good soils. We must pray that God would use persecution to strengthen the faith of His people.

We must also realize that God often uses persecution to make His people rely on Him more fully. He uses it to teach us that this world is not our final home, that vengeance is His and it causes us to identify with the sufferings of Christ. We must remember those who are in prison and being mistreated that they would have God’s perspective on these things rather than ours. Remembering is not just a passive thing, it takes work. Why else do we forget things except for a lack of being intentional to keep them in our memories? This is an acute danger for those of us who have never and may likely never face real persecution. We are told to remember because we are prone to forget. We are commanded to remember because it takes work.

We can also remember in very practical and physical ways. We can support organizations such as Voice of the Martyrs and others. It is now possible to get Bibles to people who live in closed countries who otherwise have no access to them. It is now possible to send supplies directly to those suffering in the throes of persecution.

• As though in prison with them, since you are also in the body

Not only are we told to remember those who are in prison and whose who are mistreated, we are told how: as though in prison with them, and why: since you are also in the body. The writer appeals to the unity of believers as the grounds for which we are to remember those suffering for their faith. We often think of the unity that we ought to have with believers in our local churches. Maybe we even think of unity with believers in a different church that share our exact doctrine but when was the last time that the universal unity of believers pressed upon your heart so much that you remembered those in prison and those who are mistreated. Jesus Himself identified with the persecuted church! In His encounter with Saul, soon to be the Apostle Paul, after blinding him on the road to Damascus, we read:

Acts 9:4: And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Jesus identifies so much with the believers whom Paul was persecuting that He demands of Paul why he is persecuting Christ Himself! Do we share this level of identification with those a world away, both geographically and circumstantially? We ought to:

1Corinthians 12:12: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:26: If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Paul says that our level of unity with one another ought to be such that when one member suffers, we suffer together. Does your heart ache for those suffering under persecution? The writer to the Hebrews says:

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

As I’ve been meditating on this verse over the past week or so, I’ve been struck by the last phrase: since you also are in the body. How different this is from the way we might express such sentiments. We tend to think of us: and then, oh right, those poor people out there suffering, they’re in the body too! But this is not what the writer says, he says: since you also in the body, almost as if being subjected to suffering makes us somehow identify just a bit more with Christ, but that is for another day.

May we be a remembering people.

• Read Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
• Read Foxe’s Boo of Martyrs

We have a large bulletin board in one of the hallways at the church dedicated to the persecuted church. It features many news clippings from the Voice of the Martyrs ministry as well as photographs of people who have suffered persecution of one form or another.

This can be quite sobering when you stop to actually focus on the content of what’s right in front of you. However, that’s exactly the problem. I often walk right by that bulletin board, distracted by the worries of “everyday” life in a local church where persecution is not one of the things on the top of our agenda at weekly staff meeting. The bulletin board features Hebrews 13:3, which Voice of the Martyrs often uses as well:

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body

The other day my wife and I were listening to Radio Lab on NPR and they were talking about memory. One of the quotes that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit was: “Memory is malleable.” They featured a section in which it has been demonstrated that memories can be implanted. In other words, you can make someone remember something that isn’t actually true. Remembering is not just a passive process of lying back in the hammock, it is an active reacalling and rehearsing. Remembering is quite active and I think that we need to keep this in mind to fully understand the force of this verse from Hebrews.

People are actually dying for their faith. People are really being tortured while being told to recant. These things are truly happening and yet many of us in the West walk about almost as if we’re in a slumber, sleepwalking through such difficulties as wondering whether or not that person will think we’re “weird” if we tell them that we have been saved by Jesus.

We are commanded to remember those who are in prison because it is easy to forget. We must strive to remember because it is not something that comes naturally, we must continually turn our attention, thoughts and prayers to the persecuted because they are so easily pulled in other directions; directions that in and of themselves might not be bad, but directions that disctract nonetheless. Please take some time today to pray for the persecuted church throughout the world.

• Visit the Voice of the Martyrs website
• Visit the Voice of the Martyrs blog
• Read Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Many have been following the story of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man on trial for his recent conversion to Christianity. Reinforcing the concept that Islam is in fact a “religion of peace,” many clerics are calling for Rahman to be put to death for his conversion.

It has recently been reported that Rahman’s case has been dismissed and that he has been transferred to a maximum security prison while he awaits further decisions. Both the ABC and MSNBC use the same terminology, stating that he will soon be released due to “a lack of evidence”.

I do not know Rahman, there are deep international politic tensions here and many factors mitigating his release and he has apparently begged for a Bible, so I am not here necessarily speaking of Rahman, but that phrase “a lack of evidence” has deeply troubled me since I read it and I’m thinking aloud more about the concept than anyone in particular. Could there be a true conversion to Christianity with “a lack of evidence” to prove it?

How convicting it is that such language can be used when discussing salvation. This is indeed a call to introspection. If I were placed on trial for Christianity, would there be sufficient evidence to convict me? I certainly hope so, but oh how deeply I feel those words “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15) and “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19).

To complicate matters, modern Americans live in a “low commitment” culture. We present religion as something akin to an outfit. Try it on, wear it around for a bit, but as soon as it begins to chaff, take it off for something else. American Christians sacrifice little for our faith, which makes the false professors even more convenient. While many rejoice in the fact that postmodernism “gives us a place at the table”, it robs our place of any significance and we become one choice among many rather than the only hope of life from death. Christianity ought to be urgent, and too often in America, it is anything but.
What would happen if (we we slowly seem to be) we lost our “religious freedom”? How many modern American professing Christians would be convicted and how many would be excused for “a lack of evidence”? The claim that the Gospel makes on our lives is not simple and it is not light. It requires all; our every allegiance, our every thought, love, passion and desire. To pursue anything above Christ is idolatry.

Too many churches have aided in handing out false assurance. While Dr. Yarnell of Southwestern Seminary chides those not giving altar calls, I respond that too many “altar calls” have produced assurance where there ought to be none. We’ve produced a generation of people who point to a one-time event as their assurance rather than a life devoted to Christ. Within the Southern Baptist Convention alone, there are 10,263,205 names on rolls who have gone missing. Ten million names on church rosters; church “members” who don’t set foot in church! More people are missing from the SBC than are present.

How have we come to this point of low-cost commitment and false assurance? The answer seems, at least in part to be that, at least in America, many “churches” don’t understand the Gospel because they don’t understand sin. Christianity is not about Your Best Life Now, it’s about salvation by God from God. Do you believe that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31)? Do you sense the urgency of the command “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2)? Sadly, many churches, and many professing believers lack any sense of urgency because they have no sense of the Gospel because they have not sense of sin.

Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron in one of their Way of the Master DVD’s give the following analogy. Imagine two passengers on an airplane. The stewardess brings them each a parachute and tells them to put it on, but she tells them each two very different things. To the first she says “Put on this parachute because it will give you Your Best Flight Now, it will enhance your flying experience”. But, he begins to be crowded by his neighbors and a hot cup of coffee is spilled in his lap, the parachute begins to poke him in the neck and soon, he rips it off and throws it to the ground because it did anything but enhance his flying experience. The stewardess tells the second passenger “Put this on because you have to jump out of this plane and it is your only hope.” This man will willingly endure the lack of comfort because he knows that without the parachute he will die. Friend, without Christ, we die.

The fact that the mainstream media can speak of a “lack of evidence” regarding a conversion to Christianity serves as a stinging rebuke to us all. May God raise up a generation that overflows with “evidence” because we overflow with the Gospel.

• Read ABC’s coverage.
• Read MSNBC’s coverage.

By now, most are aware of the uproar surrounding the twelve satirical cartoons of Muhammad. Our media is flooded with cries of outrage at the insensitivity being shown to Muslims around the world. The battle between “freedom of speech” and “religious tolerance” has taken a very public turn and pundits wildly pontificate about where the appropriate balance might be.

However, what is not being discussed in the mainstream media is the blatant double standard to which Christians are subjected. As the debate over cartoon Muhammads flourishes, Rolling Stone published the image of rapper Kanye West posing as Christ.

The double standard is deep and exists at many levels. While Islam is being branded as a “religion of peace,” Christianity is nearing a point of being labeled “hate speech.” Yet, remember the riots that broke out when The Last Temptation of Christ hit theaters? No? That’s because there were none. John Piper rightly asks (ht: JT):

Am I missing it, or is there an unusual silence in the blogosphere about the Muslim outrage over the cartoons of Mohammed. To me this cries out for the observation that when artists put the crucifix in a flask of urine, Christians were grieved and angered, but not one threatened to kill anyone. Our longing is to convert the blasphemers with the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection, not kill them.

As Joe Carter points out, the utter irony of the situation has been lost on many:

The protestors appear to be immune not only to sarcasm but also to irony. One of the cartoons, for example, portrayed the founder of Islam wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, implying that Muhammad, and Muslims in general, are terrorists. And how have many Muslims expressed their displeasure? By fire-bombing embassies and threatening violence against innocent people. In other words, byacting like terrorists

But irony doesn’t pay the bills, and the media has many bills to pay. Particularly in America, perceived shock value carries with it dollars. So what are we to make of a situation like the one we’re facing, when men and media openly mock Christ while protecting Muhammad? Could it be that the “religion of peace” responds with death threats while Christians respond with love? Which becomes the easier target?

What’s more is that Rolling Stone and Kanye West in particular have revealed what true cowards they are. If it’s “shock value” that they’re after, if they truly want to grab attention, why didn’t West appear as Muhammad? But instead they chose Christianity because man’s heart always drives him.

At root here is the fact that Islam proves to be an empty shell of rules and regulations while Christianity alone asserts fundamental truth claims about absolute truth and moral standards. Legalism always breeds hatred because the regulations become the idol. Men hate the fact that Christianity alone rises above the legalists, the haters, the idolaters and, in love, asserts that all have wronged our Creator (Romans 3:23) and stand in His wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Christianity alone claims absolute truth, but it does so in love, and that is exactly what drives so many crazy. It is this exact mix of truth and love, of grace and judgment that is so beyond the comprehension of fallen man.

Men understand Islam because it reacts in hatred and anger but to respond in love is beyond their comprehension. Tim Challies summarizes the point well, saying:

Christianity proves itself to be true simply by its other-worldliness. No human being could conceive of such grace - grace that compels us to forgive rather than avenge. Grace that demands obedience rather than sacrifice. Grace that forgives all of our sin.

While the world rages, we are faced with new opportunities every day to demonstrate the truth of our claims through our lives. Rather than let ourselves be dragged down in the debate, have we turned the microscope inward? Is your life marked by love (1 John 3:10), compassion (Colossians 3:12), humility (Ephesians 4:1-3)? Are you slow to anger (Proverbs 14:29).

There is, without question, a double standard. But as Christians, what we must not allow ourselves to lose sight of us that God has promised us this very fact (John 15:19-21). Rather than bemoan the double standard (though we ought to point it out), we should understand that its very existence proves that men consider Christianity much more dangerous and we ought to perpetuate this danger to their souls by doing what they least understand: loving our enemies.

The Voice of the Martyrs blog recently commented on the fact that Navy Chaplains are being told not to pray in the name of Jesus. Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt has been on a fast since December 20th in protest. This news comes on the heels of a recent piece in which Ardel Caneday openly questions whether most American Christians “have the stomach for any persecution at all.”

Caneday recounts the poor response of some Christians to NBC’s plan to air the “Book of Daniel” television show and asks: “Why do America’s Christians behave and speak as if opposition, harassment, and persecution, whether thinly veiled or overtly hostile, is not what we should expect from the world?” Indeed, our Lord promises that the world will hate those He has called out from it (John 15:19).

The underlying question behind this is one which many (American) Christians overlook. At some point, we must ask ourselves if our fairly easy middle-class (for very many) lives may actually be more of a curse than a blessing. Most would agree that it is exactly when things seem to be going with a sense of ease (as they are for most American Christians) that we are most prone to self-reliance. When we succumb to self-reliance we are swallowed by pride and we are no longer dependent upon God.

The very culture of America is one of self-determination. Everywhere we look, society celebrates the “self-made” man and we’re told to admire the person who has pulled themselves “up by the bootstraps.” This, coupled with a life of few severe troubles (compared with Christians elsewhere in the world) is a deadly poison, but it is one that is oh-so-sweet to the tongue of our ego.

Much of this is exactly tied to yesterday’s brief Meditation on Sin and Joy. John Piper argues in When I Don’t Desire God that “The key to endurance in the cause of self-sacrificing love is not heroic willpower, but deep, unshakable confidence that the joy we have tasted in fellowship with Christ will not disappoint us in death.”

Piper argues that his aim is “to sustain love’s ability to endure sacrificial losses of property and security and life, by the power of joy in the path of love.” He maintains that “This will happen when Christians don’t just say that Christ is valuable, or sing that Christ is valuable, but truly experience in their hearts the unsurpassed worth of Jesus with so much joy that they can say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ as my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Most of us have never experienced this level of joy in Christ. We revel in the gifts rather than the Giver, the creation rather than the Creator. What if the gifts were gone, would we still delight in the Giver? The fact that so few of us live in the true joy that is on offer in Christ does not bode well for the coming persecution. When we’re faced with men tickling ears (2 Timothy 4:3) to the tune of “money cometh,” how will the masses react when we are persecuted as was Jesus (John 15:20). Will they believe that they are blessed to be persecuted (Matthew 5:11)? Will they be convinced that “this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17)? Are we convinced of that?

When our faith is not strong enough to withstand the trial of good times, what makes us think that we are prepared to face the bad? We must fight for a joy in Christ that loves the Giver even if their are no gifts and who paved the way for us and “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).

Read The Beginning of Domestic Persecution by Stacy Harp.
Read Christian Bashing and Persecution by Ardel Caneday.
Read When I Don’t Desire God: How To Fight For Joy by John Piper.
Visit the Voice of the Martyrs website.
Download an mp3 clip of I Wish We’d All Been Ready by Larry Norman.