What Happened at the Cross? Persecution Comes through the Cross (Phil. 3:18-21)

What Happened at the Cross?
Persecution Happens through the Cross
Galatians 6:12; Philippians 3:18

James Thomson, in The Great Argument, wrote: “Christianity without a cross is nothing. The cross was the fitting close of a life of rejection, scorn, and defeat. But in no true sense have these things ceased or changed. Jesus is still He whom man despises, and the rejected of men.”

INTRODUCTION:
In Mark 14:50-52, we have the record of Jesus being arrested in the garden while one of His disciples, a young man, flees the scene, naked. The words Mark uses here, “young man” denotes someone who is strong, valiant, faithful, and wise. But none of these preeminent moral attributes were strong enough to keep him in his place when persecution seemed imminent. This disciple of Christ had not taken the time to put on more than a linen sheet, so zealous had he been to accompany Jesus to the garden of Gethsemane. But his moral sensibilities wee overthrown when the threat of his life came into view.

JESUS IS THE STUMBLING BLOCK OF THE CROSS:
It was prophesied that the Messiah would be a stumbling block (Isa. 8:14). Jesus is the great dividing line between heaven and hell. What do you do about the man on the cross? For those who follow, for the men and women who are exposed to the elements, protected by a thin linen sheet, persecution happens.

Jesus was persecuted by the Jews because He violated their interpretation, their traditions of the Sabbath day (John 5:16).

Jesus was persecuted by His own apostle, Peter (Matt. 16:23). He told Peter, “you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Jesus warned that persecution would be in His disciples’ future: “Remember the lesson I told you: Servants are not greater than their master. If people treated me badly, they will treat you badly too. And if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too” (John 15:20; ETR).

When Jesus gave the Parable of the Soils, He said that the seeds having fallen among the rocky places represent those who “Other people are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching, and they quickly and gladly accept it. 17 But they don’t allow it to go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.” (Mark 4:16-17).

So Jesus foresaw the day when some of His followers would be persecuted and some would fall away from their faith as a result of that persecution.

From this aspect of the parable of the soils, we learn:

1. Growth excites hope. The word in this individual’s heart found a welcome home. This individual’s conscience was aroused, his intellect was convinced, his heart was touched. He responded to the invitation. He responded, the text says, “receiving it with joy.”

2. But the withering brings disappointment. A time of trial comes. “There is a time for every event under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1) and there will come a time for trials. Affliction and persecution will arise because it is discipline which Divine wisdom says is necessary. To endure persecution, there is necessary a continual watering with heavenly dew and showers.

3. Very often initial enthusiasm wanes. We must hear the word of God and keep it.

THERE ARE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST:
“Those men who are trying to force you to be circumcised are only doing it so that their people will accept them. They are afraid they will be persecuted if they follow only the cross[a] of Christ” (Galatians 6:12).

Paul is an example of a (former) enemy of the cross of Christ.

1. Paul once persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it (Gal. 1:13).
2. In Acts 8:1-3, we read, “Saul agreed that the killing of Stephen was a good thing… Saul was also trying to destroy the group. He went into their houses, dragged out men and women, and put them in jail.”
3. Acts 26:11, Paul says he tried to force Christians to blaspheme, being furiously enraged at them, and he kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
4. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, Paul says that he was not fit to be called an apostle since he persecuted the church of God.

But he was then persecuted himself for preaching the gospel of Christ: Galatians 5:11- “My brothers and sisters, I don’t teach that a man must be circumcised. If I do teach circumcision, then why am I still being persecuted? If I still taught circumcision, then my message about the cross would not be a problem.”

Notice from Galatians the impact persecution has on followers of Christ… They were deserting Jesus quickly (1:6). They were “bewitched” (3:1). They were turning back to the weak and worthless elemental things (4:9). They were being hindered from obeying the truth (5:7). It might be perceived that Paul was their enemy by telling them the truth (4:16).

So, godly people have often been persecuted. “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). Job told his friends, “You have become cruel to me; you use your power to hurt me.” (30:21). In Psalm 119:86, the psalmist tells God: “All your commands can be trusted. Those people are wrong to persecute me. Help me!”

Jesus blessed those who would be persecuted for righteous’ sake (Matt. 5:10).

CHARACTERISTICS OF “ENEMIES” OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST:
We’re reading Philippians 3:18-21 here. Notice:

Their “end” is destruction. Their “god” is their appetite. Their “glory” is in their shame. Their “minds” are on earthly things.

So there are modern enemies of the cross of Christ which confront us in the 21st century. “Some of us think we’ve a drug problem - we’ve been drug to Bible class and drug to worship; we haven’t internalized the cross. If, like Jonah, we were put into a three-day timeout by God, we might ponder and look differently at the cross” (Hugh Ridgeway). What are we willing to endure, if we have internalized the cross?

In Romans 16:17, Paul told the Christians in Rome: “All your commands can be trusted. Those people are wrong to persecute me. Help me!”

What are some modern “enemies” of the cross of Christ?

1. Apathy - Among Christians, this is a persistent enemy of the cross of Christ.
2. Atheism - This is the perennial enemy of the cross of Christ.
3. Islam - This is a provocative enemy of the cross of Christ. Incidentally, the Mount Morris church of Christ is holding a seminar in two weeks with a former Muslim preacher in the church of Christ, an Arab Christian, who will be talking about Islam and how we can approach and evangelize Muslims. I have heard Wissam speak several times and I urge you to go, participate in that seminar and heard about this religion that is new to most of us.
4. Religious division - Is a perversion of the cross of Christ.
5. Materialism - This is a pervasive attitude that hinders the cross of Christ from advancing in our community and around the world.
6. Immorality - Homosexuality, abortion, sensuality, a sex-saturated society.

CONCLUSION:
We need to have the determination that Stephen had to stand up to and endure persecution. “He who endures to the end will be saved,” Jesus promised. We must endure persecution (1 Cor. 4:12): “We work hard with our own hands to feed ourselves. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people treat us badly, we accept it.”

We need to maintain our faith. We cannot fall away because of persecution, Jesus warns us in Matt. 13:21: “Be steadfast and faithful.” In 2 Thess. 1:4, Paul writes, “So we tell the other churches of God how proud we are of you. We tell them how you patiently continue to be strong and have faith, even though you are being persecuted and are suffering many troubles.”

We need to remember that nothing, not even persecution, can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Rom. 8:35).

We need to try to convert our persecutors! The church in and around Jerusalem, in Judea, and surrounding areas had peace once Saul of Tarsus was converted to Christianity! Acts 9:31, “The church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, these groups of believers became stronger in faith and showed their respect for the Lord by the way they lived. So the church everywhere grew in numbers.”

We ought to bless those who persecute us (Romans 12:14).

We must realize we have been crucified to the world and its desires. That happened when we were baptized into Christ: “We know that our old life was put to death on the cross with Christ. This happened so that our sinful selves would have no power over us. Then we would not be slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:6). But we have to continual to crucify our fleshly desires on a daily basis: “So I am not the one living now—it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in[a] the Son of God. He is the one who loved me and gave himself to save me” (Gal. 2:20).

Take home message: Let us have the determination to stay faithful to Christ, because nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Let us try to bless our persecutors and convert them. Our home is in heaven so that we can live our lives crucified to the world.

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