What would you do?
What Would You Do?
If you were confronted about your Christianity today, what would you do? Knowing most of my Sunday School class, I would have pity on the person willing to challenge you about your faith. I have no doubt you would not back down if your Christianity was in question. But what if someone had a gun to your head and asked you to choose? Or if they had a gun to your child or loved one’s head and asked you to choose? What would you do? What would you do?
Such a notion seems so far away and yet Christian persecution has been a reality since Jesus was hung on that cross over two thousand years ago. And if you include GOD’S chosen people, such persecution goes even further back. It goes to say, that being a believer in the one true GOD and believing GOD sent His Son to die on the cross for your sin, comes with a price.
As the mass shootings in our schools, our worship places, and our entertainment venues continue to rise, the reality of being asked to “choose” is not so far away. So what do you do? Never leave your house (been there, done that, got the t-shirt) or do we prepare ourselves with a martyr speech for others to better know Christianity.
In Luke 21:5-9, the disciples are admiring the ornate temple in Jerusalem and Jesus informs them that the temple will be utterly destroyed. Of course the disciples ask the typical questions of when and what signs to look for. I wonder if the disciples thought with advance warning they could prevent this coming destruction of such a sacred place. But Jesus spoke of “others” coming in His name and professing the end is near, yet Jesus asked the disciples to not go after them. Jesus continued by telling them of coming wars and commotions, but reminded them to not be afraid, as these things “must come to pass first” and “will not come immediately.”
Faced with choosing to live by denying Christ or dying a martyr, I could see myself being the aggressor and striking out to defend my GOD and Lord Jesus Christ. I’m no Simon Peter, quick to cut off the High Priest’s ear (John 18:10), but I believe it is more honorable to fight for what I believe in then to die in submission. Yet Jesus told the disciples to not go after the imposters and nay-sayers. In fact, Jesus told them that these situations “must come to pass first.” This foreshadowed a situation that Jesus Himself would soon face, that He accepted must come to pass, when in Luke 22:42 in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked “Father, if it is Your Will, take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Returning to Luke 21:10-12, Jesus describes the “great signs from Heaven” of earthquakes, famines, and pestilences to come. Even in our lifetime, we have witnessed such signs across the whole globe. Yet before all that comes about, the disciples will have “hands on them” and be persecuted. They will be taken before the courts and synagogues, to be tried by kings and rulers in Jesus’ name. Did you know of the original twelve disciples, all but two were documented as martyred? Three were crucified (although not all in the same way as Jesus was hung), one was hanged, one was beheaded, another sawed in pieces, another was flayed alive, while another was killed by arrows, and one was killed by a spear. Although listed as martyred, it is unknown how Matthew was killed. There is nothing documented of John’s death and Judas of Iscariot hung himself in shame for his role in Jesus’ crucifixion. The disciples certainly had “hands on them” and were faced with the choice of what they would do.
But the question still remains, what would you do? How should we prepare? Maybe we should read our Bible for specific verses to refute anything the enemy may throw at us, or maybe we study how the disciples answered on their fateful day when they left this earth for glory, or maybe we never leave our house. Jesus tells us in Luke 21:13-15 that none of these ideas are correct. Jesus first tells us that such an occasion is a time for your testimony. What a perfect Jesus answer, to remove all self from the choice and make it an opportunity to tell others about salvation through Jesus Christ. How much strength it must take to look death in the eye and to not think of your own survival, but to think of your enemy’s fate in eternity. Jesus continues by telling the disciples not to meditate on how they will answer at that fateful hour, but instead Jesus will give them the words and the wisdom to speak what no one can dispute.
What a testimony of faith. To look your enemy in the eye, as they draw down to strike you and know that GOD’S message will come from the Holy Spirit, to be spoken through you and received by your enemy. Whether your enemy will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is between them and the Lord, but you have done what Jesus has asked of all of us in the Great Commission (“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” Matt.28:18-20).
Further down Luke 21, Jesus warns the disciples that they will be betrayed by family and friends, they will be hated in Jesus Name, and that some will be put to death. But Jesus assures them that not one hair on their head will be lost (in eternity). Our time on this planet is but a short time of our everlasting life, which can only be assured through your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
In our current state of affairs, we are told we are experiencing “great signs from Heaven” and that may very well be true, but Jesus reminded the disciples of the persecution they must first face. As disciples of Christ, we are certainly not being persecuted at the level of the original twelve but there are martyrs losing their lives every day in today’s world. And there may come a day in our lifetime when we will have to choose and I Praise GOD for sending HIS Son to teach us how to be ready for that fateful day.
What are your persecutions as a Christian? Are we allowing the enemy to make us “choose” between living for Christ or fitting in with this world? Jesus taught in Luke 21, we need only allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and He will speak for us. However, we must exercise our faith by reading HIS Word and praying without ceasing in Jesus’ name.