How to Handle Persecution

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 28 February 2016

We come now to Acts 4. Persecution is an intrinsic part of Christianity and always has been. And here we have some truths given to us in the example of the apostles as they handled persecution. Actually persecution is a blessing to all churches and all believers. Five times in 11 years the church in Jerusalem was persecuted on an organized basis. And here we learn about the beginning of these persecutions that are still going on today, some 2,000 years later.

During the first 300 years of the church's existence there were ten major persecutions. Beginning with Stephen and extending nearly to all of the apostles, untimely death became the common way to go, if you were a Christian. The first persecution broke out under Nero Domitius, the sixth Emperor of Rome and about the time A.D. 67, which is shortly after the church began.

That was only the beginning of what the church experienced. And Satan's persecution, as time has progressed, has become all the more subtle. It is not obvious how it is that Satan persecutes today. But today Satan's techniques are apparently much more successful. Now this is the beginning of the steady stream of persecution that has gone on since the commencement of the church. In one way or another the Christian church is always under persecution.

Persecution is not always political. It is sometimes personal. It is sometimes religious. It sometimes comes from illegitimate Christianity. The greatest persecutor of evangelical Christianity now is probably liberal Christianity, at least here in America. Satan usually directs the persecution today not at the physical body, but at the ego. He directs his persecution at pride or reputation or status, etc. And it is really very effective.

So today the persecution doesn't make heroes out of anybody. And while the church today is not being killed physically, the church has succumbed to a kind of living spiritual death. The perfect illustration is the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Satan has killed the church in terms of its spiritual effect without ever having to kill the Christians in it. In fact, by letting them all live in a kind of godless Christianity, he has a greater effect than if he wiped them all out. And so Satan whose persecution in the past has slaughtered Christians physically, has found it much more effective to kill the church by making it complacent, indolent, fat, rich, socially oriented and accepted by the world.

Now Jesus in John 15:18-19 warned the church to expect persecution, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” When a Christian loves the world, Satan has accomplished a greater persecution than if he had killed that guy, because he has destroyed his positive effect. In fact, he has made him a negative.

And Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Now that is a very clear statement. You say well, I have been a Christian and I have not suffered persecution. Read the verse again, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." So then if you are not suffering persecution, it is because you are not living a godly life in Christ Jesus.

If you live the life in Christ that God intends you to live, you will by the very nature of that life be in opposition to the world and the world system. If you are not suffering some persecution, you have either fallen right into the flow of the worldly system so that they don't know the difference or they haven't discovered yet who it is that you really are. You have hidden it well. But when you begin to live openly for God in the world then you will confront the world and persecution will automatically follow.

We see this in the early church. If you really live a Christian life, the world will be drawn to you, to the loving nature of your person. But as soon as they find out what you believe, then all of a sudden that which draws them to you, unless they come to Christ, turns to be a negative. The early church in Acts 2 and 3, looked real positive. The world was amazed at them and they found favor with all the people. Then suddenly the people found out who the church believed in and everything changed fast.

Now in Acts 3, Peter had gone with John to the temple and there he had healed the lame man. A crowd had gathered together in the courtyard. Peter and John stood in Solomon's portico and in between was the healed man when Peter began to preach. And he preached a powerful message regarding Jesus as Messiah or the Christ. And he indicted Israel for executing Christ. He closed with an invitation to them in verse 19, "repent and be converted."

You see he confronted the world. He stood up in the middle of their temple where they were doing their religious duties and he said this is wrong, and he confronted them face to face. Now that's the kind of confrontation that brings hostility. But that is the kind of confrontation that God expects us to be involved in. It is not a lame message in order to protect our ego, our status and our prestige.

The response to what Peter’s message we see in Acts 4:4, “But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” Now that is what we are trying to have happen. If we do not say anything, not only do we not suffer, but nobody gets saved either. You say well if I do that, I am liable to get really messed up. That's right. You are liable to get messed up and somebody else is liable to get saved. And our lives are all expendable my friends.

The total membership role of the men in the church at that moment was five thousand. So in addition to that, they were probably at least another five thousand women and children. The church grew so fast from this point on that it was not possible to keep an accurate account. But many believed and that was the reaction. Now that was worth the price that Peter paid.

Now let's look at Acts 4:1-2, “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

Look who is involved. It says, the priests who were to represent God, which shows you where the priesthood had gone. The second person that we meet is the captain of the temple police. Here is the political opposition. Now the Roman government was very tolerant, but against public disorder they were merciless. Then we meet the Sadducees, the power sect in Israel. They were the high priestly family.

They were a small group, but had great political influence in Israel. They believed that only the written law was binding and not the oral tradition. So that none of the rabbinical laws were binding that the Pharisees lived and died by. They also believed there was no resurrection of the body. Thirdly, they did not believe in the existence of angels and the spirit world. And lastly they believed that man was the master of his own destiny so they did not believe in God’s power.

These religious liberals were very angry that “they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Number one, verse 2 said, "they taught the people." They believed that only they had the right to teach. Look at verse 13. "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled." Unlearned means that they didn't know the sacred writings and the Jewish law. These guys are not even Jewish theologians.

And the second word "ignorant" means that they are uneducated amateurs. And to make it even worse, they were from Galilee which was the most backward area. And they were mad because Peter opposed their theology. Peter preached Jesus and through Jesus, His resurrection and that they hated. They had determined that Jesus was a blasphemer and here Peter was back announcing all over town that Jesus was the Messiah and you all have killed your Messiah.

And thirdly, they didn't like the resurrection idea. Peter kept announcing that Jesus was alive. That is a scary thought because what would prevent Him from bringing about the vengeance that they justly deserved? And they knew they were hypocrites. And so they reacted. Verse 3, "They arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” So three hours have gone by before they arrested them.

So the persecution began but at the same time five thousand men believed. Imprisonment didn't nullify their effect and it didn't prevent the progress of the gospel. This was the first instance in which persecution has only led to the extension and the establishing of the church rather than destroying it. It has brought it growth. Trial and persecution on a whole church-wide level is God's way of maturing His whole church.

Persecution results in real growth for many reasons. First because it strips off all of the dead weight. If people have to lay their lives on the line for Jesus Christ, then the only people that stay are willing to do that, right? The quickest way to get rid of the tares is just to make the wheat pay the price of total discipleship and the tares will just drop off because they are not really that committed.

Now watch seven principles in reacting to persecution. Number one, if persecution comes, be submissive. Verse 3. "And they arrested them and put them in custody." Does it say that Peter and John resisted and a brawl ensued? No, they just put them in jail overnight. They knew that their arrest was in God's hands. Verse 5-6, “On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.”

The scribes, the elders, and the rulers, along with the high priests made up the Sanhedrin. This is the Supreme Court of the Jews. And even in the Roman times, they had the right to arrest. It had 70 members and then the high priest was ex-officio President, so there were 71. And it included the priests and the scribes, who were the experts in the law. And the elders who were from the people. And it also included people from priestly family.

Now they got together in their Sanhedrin council and they brought in Peter and John. Verse 7 says, “And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” So God had just given them the wonderful opportunity to preach to the Sanhedrin. There was no way possible to preach to those men except this way. And that is why we must be submissive in persecution.

What a question. By what power and by whose authority? Just exactly the question that set the stage for Peter to preach. The second principle in dealing with persecution is, be filled with the Spirit. Verse 8-9, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed.”

It is simply submission, I submit to you Holy Spirit. Every Christian has within him the Holy Spirit. He is there to empower us, and as we yield to His power that power is released. Peter and John found themselves out of step with the ongoing pattern of belief. They collided hard and they didn't run and hide. They stood there. They submitted and they were filled with the Spirit. They were victorious.

Verse 10, “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” Peter first establishes the injustice of the persecution by stating that all they had done was a good deed in verse 9. And then in verse 10 he announces the facts boldly. He doesn't back off at all on the indictment of Israel for executing Christ.

The principle is to never accommodate the gospel by deleting what offends somebody. And then as if to dig a deeper hole for them, in verses 11 and 12, he quotes Psalm 118:22 right out of their own prophecy and concludes, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

That is a prophecy of the death and resurrection of Messiah. And the cornerstone of a building that wasn't perfect would be thrown away because everything else in the building would be imperfect all the way up. So the prophecy says that Jesus is the cornerstone, but the builders rejected it thinking it was imperfect. But God would bring it back and make it the cornerstone. That's exactly what happened with Jesus. They rejected Him. But God raised Him from the dead and created a new temple, Ephesians 2:20, which is the church.

And Peter is saying in effect people if you don't turn to Jesus you will be damned. There is no other way. People always accuse Christians of being narrow minded. Unfortunately, the word of God is followed and it is always right and anything that contradicts it is wrong. So be submissive, be Spirit-filled and boldly use it as an opportunity to preach the gospel. That's the first three ways to be victorious over persecution. Let's pray.