It doesn’t sound like much of a recruiting scheme. “They’re going to kick you out of your churches. In fact, it’s going to get so bad that people will try to kill you (and with some of you they will succeed!) and they’ll think they’re doing something good for God. But the truth is, they do these things because they don’t know God. Remember, I warned you!”
I used to have a hard time imagining a time when Christians would die for their faith. But it did happen to the disciples. All but John died martyrs deaths. It happens today, too. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Islamic nations make it a capital offense to share the Gospel. In China and North Korea, Christians are jailed sometimes for speaking the truth of God’s Word. Here in the U.S. there are persecutions too, although usually of a more subtle form and not government endorsed. At least not yet. Maybe someday. Jesus wants us to be prepared. To follow him is to enter into the conflict.
Over the years, I think that maybe some in the church began to thing along the lines of my tongue-in-cheek statement I started with. “It doesn’t sound like much of a recruiting scheme.” In our consumer driven society perhaps our market research tells us that a message like this will not attract people. It might be easier to share the parts about peace, and love and happiness. After all, these are difficult days we are in and a word of comfort can go a long way.
I don’t know.
Jesus talks about sorrow here. He prepares them for sorrow. They will have sorrow because of what is about to happen to him – arrest, beatings, death – because he is going back to the Father – ascending into heaven – and because the world is going to persecute them. They will be scattered. He’s telling them in advance so that he can deliver another message – “Take heart.”
I don’t know if you have days where you just want to plop down and cry. Days when the anger and injustice of it all seems so close to the surface you have to stuff it down. Days when you’re so scared waiting for test results or worrying about the future that you feel absolutely paralyzed. Days when you wish you could just run away. Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
This world is not our home. We act like it is sometimes, and get very comfortable, but it is not. Life here is a dangerous journey. We need to know that, so Jesus warns us. He’s not trying to scare us, but make us aware and point out how we get through it.
We make it through by trusting in Him. We have peace because we are His and none can snatch us from His hand. We take heard because the worst this world can do is take our lives, but he has gone ahead to prepare eternal homes for eternal lives. He faced death and blazed the way through to life.
There is a lot happening around us that would raise fear and anxiety. Let’s cling to Jesus and his promises. “Take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Lord Jesus, give me your Spirit so that I may be courageous in the face of fear, steadfast in the face of struggles and at peace in the face of tribulation. Help me to remember you have overcome the world, and let me live with hope in You. Amen.
I used to have a hard time imagining a time when Christians would die for their faith. But it did happen to the disciples. All but John died martyrs deaths. It happens today, too. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Islamic nations make it a capital offense to share the Gospel. In China and North Korea, Christians are jailed sometimes for speaking the truth of God’s Word. Here in the U.S. there are persecutions too, although usually of a more subtle form and not government endorsed. At least not yet. Maybe someday. Jesus wants us to be prepared. To follow him is to enter into the conflict.
Over the years, I think that maybe some in the church began to thing along the lines of my tongue-in-cheek statement I started with. “It doesn’t sound like much of a recruiting scheme.” In our consumer driven society perhaps our market research tells us that a message like this will not attract people. It might be easier to share the parts about peace, and love and happiness. After all, these are difficult days we are in and a word of comfort can go a long way.
I don’t know.
Jesus talks about sorrow here. He prepares them for sorrow. They will have sorrow because of what is about to happen to him – arrest, beatings, death – because he is going back to the Father – ascending into heaven – and because the world is going to persecute them. They will be scattered. He’s telling them in advance so that he can deliver another message – “Take heart.”
I don’t know if you have days where you just want to plop down and cry. Days when the anger and injustice of it all seems so close to the surface you have to stuff it down. Days when you’re so scared waiting for test results or worrying about the future that you feel absolutely paralyzed. Days when you wish you could just run away. Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
This world is not our home. We act like it is sometimes, and get very comfortable, but it is not. Life here is a dangerous journey. We need to know that, so Jesus warns us. He’s not trying to scare us, but make us aware and point out how we get through it.
We make it through by trusting in Him. We have peace because we are His and none can snatch us from His hand. We take heard because the worst this world can do is take our lives, but he has gone ahead to prepare eternal homes for eternal lives. He faced death and blazed the way through to life.
There is a lot happening around us that would raise fear and anxiety. Let’s cling to Jesus and his promises. “Take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Lord Jesus, give me your Spirit so that I may be courageous in the face of fear, steadfast in the face of struggles and at peace in the face of tribulation. Help me to remember you have overcome the world, and let me live with hope in You. Amen.
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