Persecution is Normal

1 Thessalonians 2v14b

3^rd September 2021

Last time, we read:

1 Thessalonians 2v14a
For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus:

We saw this as a fourth proof that the church in Thessalonica was a true church. Paul, Silas and Timothy continue:

1 Thessalonians 2v14b
you suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews

A fifth proof for Paul and his friends that the Thessalonian church was a true church is because they were by the Greeks (perhaps both Gentile and Jewish Greeks) in the same way that the Judean churches were persecuted by the Jews. Most of the time, true churches are persecuted. As Paul wrote to Timothy some years later:

2 Timothy 3:12
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

Good Christians really shouldn't be surprised when they're persecuted, whether that's organised, government-inspired persecution, or whether it's just being persecuted by your next-door neighbour or work colleague. Persecution is normal. And persecution is a blessing, although not a comfortable one. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:10-12
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Over the last 2,000 years, the church in many parts of the world has been persecuted. We shouldn't be surprised, since Jesus Himself was persecuted. But Jesus rose from the dead, and the church keeps going. After 2,000 years of persecution, we're stronger and more numerous than ever. Tertullian, one of the great early Church writers, who lived in the second century coined the phrase, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." The church is purified, and grows, through persecution.

The early Judean churches were persecuted by the Jews. Paul knew a lot about this because, before he met Jesus, he'd been one of the persecutors. The church in Thessalonica was persecuted. So were several of the churches of Asia addressed in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, so was the church in Rome. Here a just a few later examples of persecution:

It's well known that Queen Mary of England, known as Bloody Mary, who reigned from 1553 to 1558, ordered some 300 Protestants to be burned at the stake for heresy during her 5 years on the throne.

On St Bartholomew's Day, August 24th 1572, Charles IX of France ordered the massacre of the French Protestants, known as Hugenots. We don't know how many died across the country, but it's believed around 3,000 perished in Paris alone in just a few days. Pope Gregory XIII had a medal struck to celebrate the massacre.

Communist counties, such as the old Soviet Union, Romania and China, so persecuted the church that it was driven underground, meeting in secret, going into the forest to baptise each other, living in fear of the secret police. Many were imprisoned.

For a while, in Albania, under the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, believing in any kind of God was illegal. But he's dead, and the Albanian church is back.

In North Korea, it's a crime to believe in Jesus, and many Christians are in concentration camps.

Christians are persecuted in many Muslim-majority countries, particularly Christians who've converted from Islam. In some countries converting to Christianity is punished with the death penalty. Christians from a Muslim background can also be sectioned in a psychiatric hospital, because leaving Islam is considered a sign of insanity. 

The Open Doors charity estimates that, today, 340 million Christians suffer persecution and discrimination. Here's just one of thousands of examples: On 7th March this year, armed Islamist militants surrounded a church in western Ethiopia. They forced the worshippers to hand over all their mobile phones, then they took the church's two pastors outside and killed them, then they took 22 other worshippers to a nearby forest, and killed them as well. Such things happen around the world, all the time.

Persecution is always with us.

There wasn't much persecution of British Christians in the middle of the 20th century but such periods, when we're truly free, are quite rare in church history. And now we're beginning to adjust to the idea that persecution may well increase here. But persecution is an honour. At least it proves that we stand out from the world by trusting God and adopting His moral standards. And great is your reward in heaven when you're persecuted.

And can I just take a moment to say that Christians are not the only people to be persecuted? The Chinese Uyghur Muslims are being persecuted terribly. A few decades ago, British homosexuals were persecuted. For 2,000 years, Jews have been persecuted. There is in the heart of sinful man a desire to hurt those with whom we disagree, and of whose beliefs we disapprove. We Christians alone understand the call to truly love our neighbours.