Good morning. Opening your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1. Everybody's turning there. It's probably important for some of the people who are leaving, but we have our VBS mandatory training today, so if you're volunteering and helping serve with VBS, which is coming up in a few weeks at the end of July, Make sure you're there. It's immediately after the service. There will be lunch provided. Please don't come and eat the pizza if you're not going to be part of the meeting. Because we're only buying enough for feeding for the meeting. But we will be eating after the service. We should be starting our meeting at 12.30 is the plan. And hopefully have you out of here, I would think, by 2 o'clock at the latest. But you'll have already eaten, so that should be okay, right? I think that's it. We have our midweek service this week. Yes, it was a great time at the One Voice event yesterday. I'm glad for everyone who came out. Thank you for being there and Pastor Matt hosted that. Let's look at Colossians chapter 1. We looked at this passage we began last week in chapter 1 starting in verse 24 through 25. And I wanted to split it into two parts on the same passage because I thought it important that we would give time to a whole message to just verse 24 about suffering, but last week we needed to highlight the message for which we suffer, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? The mystery hidden for ages, a little reminder of what we went over last week, and if you didn't get to hear it, it is online. The mystery hidden for ages, which God decreed before the foundation of the world, which was to bring redemption, through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became a man, and who died for our sins and rose from the dead, right? And that this Christ is conquering, has conquered all His enemies on the cross, and is renewing all things, and is redeeming all things by His blood, and that Christ has brought together in His church people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, Jews and Gentiles, into Christ, united to Him. and that all of us who have believed in Jesus by faith are one with Christ, right? And that we have a union with Jesus so that all of the benefits of Christ belong to us. We are justified because we are in Him. We are sons of God, sons and daughters of God, because we are in Christ. And it's because we have Christ, we have the hope of glory. And this was God's plan from before the foundation of the world. Now this plan, this eternal plan of God to bring redemption through Jesus Christ, was not so we could live our best life now. But one thing we find and we see right here in verse 24 and all through the New Testament, in fact, I was struck by this this week as I was studying that Paul, the Apostle Paul alone in his letters, speaks about suffering over 60 times. Over 60 times. That's a lot. In 13 letters, right? To speak of suffering 60 times. You see, the life of a Christian, the call of following Jesus, is to call to follow in His very steps. He took up His cross and was crucified for us, and we are called to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. Look at verse 24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known." See, Paul knows what it is to suffer. And here he tells the Colossians how much he has suffered for their sake that they might know the mystery of Christ. So I want us to focus on suffering. what it means to share in the afflictions of Christ for what Paul says here of filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. It's a strange phrase, isn't it? It's a little difficult. We'll cover it. But I want us to think about something really quick. There's three types of suffering, three ways that we suffer as Christians. One way that we suffer, one reason we suffer, is we suffer the temporal consequences for sin, right? We reap what we sow, like David, right? We fall, Christians at times, fall into grievous sin, and we face consequences in this life of pain and sorrow because of our own sins, right? That's one way we suffer. Another way we suffer is we suffer tribulations. We suffer trials that are outside of our control. This could be our health. This could be natural disasters. It could be because of someone else's sin, right? This is another way that we as Christians suffer. There is a third way that Christians suffer, but this is the one that we neglect because we focus on the other two so much more often. It's the suffering that Christians endure because of our faith in Jesus Christ. The suffering of persecution. Now, all suffering, all three types of those suffering is under the sovereignty of God, is it not, saints? All of our suffering that we endure is under the sovereignty of God. All of it is meant to purify us and conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. All of it is meant as instruction for our soul to teach us not to hold on to the things of this world, but to look to the eternal, to look to Christ. Suffering is known by every follower of Jesus, and in all three of these ways. But I want us to focus this morning on the third one, because it's the one we neglect. Suffering because of our faith in Jesus Christ. You see, there is a great defect in a Christianity that we do not suffer for. The New Testament makes it clear that if we follow Jesus, we will be hated because the world hated him. And if we love Jesus, if we belong to Jesus, then the world will hate us. This is what Jesus teaches his disciples in John 15, right? Right, Brother Bill? He's our expert in the Gospel of John. And I'm sure you'd say, no, I still have more. More I can learn out of John, right? That's how I feel about Colossians right now. So what does Paul mean here when he says that the sufferings that he endures is filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the body? What a strange way to speak of suffering. And it can be easily misunderstood, and it has been. This phrase, filling up what is lacking, is what Roman Catholics used to teach something they call the treasury of the church. And if you came from the Roman Catholic Church, you know what this is. The treasury of the church is where the merits of Christ, along with the prayers and the good works of the Virgin Mary, as well as all the good merits of the saints, particularly those saints who were martyred, are stored up in a treasury and are kept. And according to this teaching, Mary and the saints have earned more merit than they needed to enter straight into heaven and they didn't need further purification and so their extra merits went into a storehouse that the pope has the keys to and is able to distribute to those to forgive sins that they commit, so that they can have a forgiveness of those sins and enter straight into heaven, okay? So that comes off this verse. This is what the Roman Catholics teach. It's not just what they taught in the 16th century. This is still the doctrine of the Roman Catholicism. And the Pope distributes this merit through indulgences. You've heard about indulgences. We talked about them in October when we covered the Reformation. Do you know that the Roman Catholicism still believes in and distributes indulgences? It's not something just from the 16th century. Indulgences are what are given to pay for your sin so you can enter straight into heaven. And the only way you can receive an indulgence is by doing some action that is required to be performed. These could be such as doing a good work or saying a prescribed prayer, but you have to do something, maybe a Hail Mary or the Rosary, whatever it is. Something specified that the priest gives you that forgives that temporal sin so you can enter straight into heaven. This is a blasphemous teaching. It denies the sufficiency of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. And it is obvious that this is not what Paul means here in Colossians. He already highlighted the centrality and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone in Colossians 1, 19-22. He says, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you who once were alienated, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. It says the same thing in Colossians 2, 13 and 14. And you who were dead in your trespasses, in uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Praise Jesus that all our sins are forgiven in Him, that He has paid for every sin on the cross. And so your suffering, saints, is not payment for sin, but it is a sharing in the sufferings of Christ as His gospel, which is His power for salvation, goes into the world. And so what does Paul mean when he says that he is filling up? What is lacking? What could he mean by there being something lacking in the afflictions of Christ? Well, first of all, this word affliction here that is used is actually never used of Christ's redeeming work on the cross. It is to speak of His suffering in the flesh, of being persecuted or done wrong to, and the afflictions that the church face in holding fast to Jesus. So, when it says the afflictions of Christ, it's not speaking of His atoning sacrifice on the cross. There is nothing lacking in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Amen? It is a sufficient work. Christ's death has paid for sin once and for all. It is finished. And so, Paul understands that he shares in Christ's afflictions because One of the things that we talked about last week is our union with Christ, right? That the church has a union with Jesus. So when the body suffers, Jesus says that he suffers, that his very body is suffering. And Paul knew this firsthand, right? When he came to trust in Jesus, He met Jesus on the road to Damascus, right? And Jesus shone bright to him, and he said, what? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why are you persecuting me? You see, Paul, who was known as Saul in the Jewish community, understood from his first encounter with Jesus that his persecution of the church was his persecution of Jesus. And I'm sure that stuck with him for the rest of his life. And not only that, but when Ananias was sent to Paul, Jesus told him that, I must show him how much he will suffer for me. Paul's ministry from beginning to end was a sharing in Christ's sufferings. But what is he filling up? What is lacking? Well, what this phrase is, it's a little bit obscure to us, but it's actually clear when you understand the context of Paul's thought during the day and also what the early church taught after the apostles, is that he's referring to what's known as the messianic woes, the afflictions of God's people in the end of the days to be endured by God's people. Jesus speaks of these these what he calls the birth pains in mark 13 turn there if you would mark 13 in verse 3 Starting in verse 3, this is Mark 13. Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? They're asking about the end of the days, the day of the Lord. And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death. And father his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my namesake. but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Skip down to verse 19. For in those days there will be such tribulation as not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and will never be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. These words are evidently true in the lives of the saints of the early church, right? They were brought before the governors, they were brought before in the synagogues, they were beaten, they were tormented, they were persecuted by their own family for following Jesus. We could say this to be true of all followers of Jesus around the world and throughout history. that those who have followed Jesus predominantly, and I know this has been our experience here in America, have faced these kinds of persecutions of which Jesus spoke. And so when Paul says here he's filling up what is lacking, he's thinking of what Jesus is referring to as the sufferings, the afflictions that the church would endure in the end of the ages. And this is made clear as well in Revelation 6, in verses 9-11. And it says here, When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain from the word of God, and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been." Here we see John has a vision in the heavenly realms, and he gets to see the martyrs. And they're crying out to God, asking how long. And he says, until the full number is complete. You see, these messianic woes were understood by the early church as meaning that God had a predetermined set number of sufferings that has been decreed by God for the church before he would return. And until those sufferings were complete, Christ is not coming on the clouds. When they reach their climax, then Christ will come and crush every enemy under his feet. Now, we don't know, this is in the mind of God, right? We don't know when those sufferings are complete. That could be right now. That could be tomorrow. Jesus is coming as a thief in the night. He will come when the world is unexpecting. Even when we are ready but unexpecting, right? We're expecting him to come, but we don't know the day or the hour. You see, we must understand that when Jesus rose from the dead, He ushered in the new age, the time anticipated by the prophets, the time that they spoke of as the day of the Lord, a turmoil upon the earth in which God would establish His rule over all. With the finished work of Christ, the day of the Lord has arrived. And now we Christians live in what we call the already but not yet. Christ has already inaugurated the new kingdom, the new age of his kingdom, but it has not yet been fully consummated. He has not brought the new heavens and the new earth yet. That is awaiting for his return. and he's coming back on a war horse, and he will crush every enemy under his feet, and he will establish his kingdom as sure, and there will be no more rebellion against him. But this is what I want you to focus on right now, is that we only get there once the full measure of the Christ's affliction in his body are complete. Only then does Christ return. And so this means that Christ's church must endure much suffering, walking the same path of our Savior who promised that if they hated Him, they will hate us. And so what the church has been experiencing since the ascension of Jesus Christ is the birth pains of the new age. And these birth pains are in an ever-increasing intensity. Right? And there's really no time in church history that it could not be said by the church, these are the end times. Jesus can come back at any moment. There is no time that we could say that every part of the age of the church, they could look at the times and say, Jesus is coming. This is what the early church believed. This is what Paul believed of the imminent return of Jesus. This is what the early disciples after the apostles who trusted in their witness, they believed that Jesus was imminent, that he was coming back. Now when you think that God says a day to the Lord is as to a thousand years, we're only two days in. He could come back at any moment, but our time seems so much longer than his. Every age of the church has been filled with the history since Christ's ascension with plagues and wars and natural disaster and persecutions and divisions and family and evil nations, all the things that Jesus said we would endure. They have been happening until the complete measure is filled up. You ask, are we living in the end times? And I say, yes, we do live in the end of the ages. Do you look at the world you see? And you know they would have said the same thing when Martin Luther lived. And they saw the bubonic plague and the deception of Catholicism and the Pope who they believed was the Antichrist, right? There's not a time that we could look and say, Jesus isn't coming yet. He could come at any moment. But we do live in evil days, don't we? And nations and cultures go through cycles. There's times where things seem to be better than others. But honestly, there has never been a time in the history of fallen man where it's been utopia. We speak of the great old days of America. Yeah, there was a great love for Christ among many, and there was definitely many more Christians than there are now. But there was also great evil, because man is sinful. We can't have a view of history that way. It's a romantic view of history that is not true. Now, when we speak of God having these sufferings for His church, We ought not to think this strange. It was part of the foreordained plan of God that Christ would be crucified on the cross, nailed there, it says in Acts 2, by the hands of evil men. Now, I don't understand the mysteries of God's sovereignty and how man is fully responsible for doing such an evil deed, and yet it was part of God's plan. from before the ages, that Jesus would die for our sins and that He would suffer for us. And it is part of God's plan for His church that we would know the same sufferings of Jesus and that this is necessary for the church. Now these sufferings that we endure as Christ's church, they're not imposed on us by God in some arbitrary manner. It's not as if God is in heaven indifferent to our suffering and detached from them. We are Christ's body. He is our head. And so when we suffer, Christ suffers. When we are persecuted, Christ is persecuted. As we already said, Paul knew this firsthand. Look at... 2 Corinthians 11, verse 21, where Paul, defending his apostleship here in 2 Corinthians, which, by the way, I encourage you to read 2 Corinthians because the whole book is about suffering for the gospel and for the ministry of the gospel. 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his apostleship against those who were denying it, who were denying his authority as an apostle. And you would think he would defend it by speaking about all the strengths that he had. And that's how we would defend ourselves, right? Just, well, look at all the things that I did for Jesus. You know, all my strengths, how big my church is, how many things, how many baptisms I performed. You know what he highlights to defend his apostleship? Look at this. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rod. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys in danger from rivers. Danger from robbers. Danger from my own people. Danger from Gentiles. Danger in the city. Danger in the wilderness. Danger at sea. Danger from false brothers. In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak? Am I not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." This is the ministry of the Apostle Paul that Jesus appointed for him. Do you remember in Colossians where he says that he was commissioned for this ministry to make the Word of God known? And in this commission, he shared in the sufferings of Christ. We look back at the Apostle Paul and we read how God, through him, the inspired scriptures, and we see this man who we look at and we're amazed at the grace of God in him. And we think of all the things he accomplished. But don't forget the suffering that he endured for the good of the church. The suffering that he endured for the sake of Jesus. And this suffering was necessary. And you know, it's necessary for us as well. Suffering is necessary for the church of Jesus Christ. The world. Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are 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. Listen. There is no crown without a cross. There's no crown without a cross. In Acts 14, when Paul was preaching the gospel and he was encouraging the brothers, it says this, When they had preached the gospel to that city and it made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Romans 8, 16, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. It has been appointed by God that we would suffer, that we would take up our cross and follow Jesus, and this is how we get our crown. Remember, we cast those crowns at Jesus' feet because He gets all the glory. Everybody wants a crown. Everybody wants the glory because we're so proud. But no one wants the cross. No one wants the suffering. You who have faced much suffering and sorrow in this world know, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, that this light momentary affliction is storing up for you an eternal weight of glory. It's not to belittle suffering, right? Suffering is hard. Suffering is grievous to our hearts. We don't look to the things that are seen, we look to Christ. And we know that if our Lord suffered, then we will suffer with Him. And if we suffer, we know that we will have more glory for it, more glory to the Son, because of the suffering that we endure. God has willed that just as in the cross of Christ, whereby He purchased our salvation, that through what Paul calls the folly of the cross, God would shame the wise. and make men foolish so that God would get all the glory, right? The gospel we preach is of Christ crucified. Our Savior is a crucified Savior. This is folly to the world. And so is a persecuted church. But it's the power of God for salvation. It's the power of God by which God builds the church. It seems counterintuitive that the suffering of the church would bring greater strengthening to the church, but this is exactly what it does. Sharing in the sufferings of Christ builds the church. Look at what Paul said here back in Colossians 1.24, for your sake, and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. He understood his suffering as a means by which God was building his church. Tertullian said in 197 AD, who knew persecution under the Roman Empire, he said this, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And he wrote this in defense of Christianity against the hostile Roman Empire. You see, during the days of the early church, after the apostles, well, first of all, we see in the book of Acts that the first martyr is Stephen, right? And the Jews began persecution of the Christians. And in the Roman world, Christianity at first was understood as just a sect of Judaism. And so the Romans had an agreement with Judaism, so they didn't really much deal with the affairs of the Jews. And so Christians didn't face much persecution by the Romans at first. The first persecutions were by the hands of God's people, the old covenant people, the Jews, and they put to death Christians. And we see one such as Stephen, who bore witness to Jesus and who was the first martyr of the church and was stoned to death. And as time went on, It became clear to the Roman Empire, as also there was a bunch of tension with Judaism, that Christianity was not just a sect of Judaism anymore, but they treated it as its own thing. And Christians began to face persecution by the Romans. They were ridiculed by their fellow Roman citizens. They were ridiculed because they would not partake in the worship of the city gods, which was seen as patriotism. And so they were seen as rabble-rousers because they would not go and make sacrifices to the gods, particularly once there was the worship of Caesar implemented. And so because they would not sacrifice to Caesar and say that Caesar was Lord, they were considered anarchists. Another claim that was charged against Christians was that they were atheists. That one sounds strange, doesn't it? Christians who believe in God, but it's because they rejected the plurality of gods in the Roman Empire, and they believed that there was one God who is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. And so they were seen as atheists because they did not partake in the pagan practices of the day and the worship. Now, all these charges that were brought against them were false. They weren't rabble-rousers. They did not bow to Caesar, but they honored the emperor. Peter taught them to. They did not seek to cause chaos and riots. They sought to honor the Lord Jesus and preach Him, and preach Him only. And it was through preaching Christ and through being unwilling to worship anyone but the Lord Christ, that persecution came. And so persecution came in various waves to the early church. A lot of times it was just the persecution of being disliked or being ridiculed and having economic difficulties because people wouldn't do business with them. But then there were times where there was the official persecution of Rome. and Christianity was outlawed, and Christians were brought into the games, and they were eaten by lions and bears and all the various animals that they used. One such that I want to share with you is a story. It's called the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John. And this is the account from the early church of his Martyrdom. And also look at how they think about being a martyr. Who could fail to marvel at the martyr's nobility and steadfast endurance and total devotion to their Lord? Even when their flesh was shredded by whips, that you could see their veins and arteries and internal organs, they endured the agony with courage, while all the bystanders felt pity for them and burst into tears. Yet the martyrs themselves displayed such bravery that not one of them let out a murmur or sigh. In this they demonstrated to everyone that at the moment they were being tortured, these most noble martyrs of Christ were already away from their bodies. Or rather, the Lord was right there beside them. communing with them. Focusing their thoughts on the beauty of Christ, they despised their earthly torments and freed themselves from eternal punishments through one mere hour of suffering. The fires of the inhuman tortures felt cool to them because they set their eyes instead on their salvation from the eternal and unquenchable fires of hell. The martyrs gazed with the eyes of their hearts on the good things reserved for those who patiently endure. The things that neither ear has heard nor eye seen, nor has it entered in the hearts of man. Likewise, those condemned to the wild beast endured horrendous torments. They were stretched out on a bed of jagged shells or afflicted with various other forms of torture. The intent was, if possible, to force them to recant by applying continuous agony. Indeed, the devil devised many things against the martyrs, but thanks be to God, he couldn't get the victory over any of them. That's the account of the early church. And this is the kind of thing many of our brothers and sisters face around the world. Think of the brothers in India, or in China, or in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia, who just for becoming a Christian will be beheaded in the public square. Suffering is a reality for God's people, yet we in America have such comfort, don't we? And we, not only do we not face persecution, but we avoid it. We shy away from the gospel and we don't face suffering because we are unwilling to preach like Stephen preached. Do you see how Stephen preached in Acts? Do you see what he says? Let's read that to you real quick. This is what he says right before they stoned him you stiff-necked people uncircumcised in heart and ears you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so did you Which of the prophets did your fathers not? Persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one who you have now betrayed and murder You who received the laws delivered by angels and did not keep it now when they heard these things they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him and That's not some easy believism messages there. No, he went right at them. He confronted their sin head on. And guess what? It enraged the unbelievers. It enraged those who wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Now, was he being a meanie? No, he loved them so much that he was pointing the truth of the gospel right in their face so they couldn't deny it. There is no crown without a cross, but we, and this is, I'm not preaching from a high horse here. This is one of the most convicting messages to my own heart. I was so reminded by something that John Calvin said as I was preparing this message, that God has willed that he would minister to his church, not by angels, but by mere men with feet of clay. That's what I am. I have avoided suffering so many times. I've been ashamed of the name of Jesus many times. But may it not be said of us saints. I want you to hear this account from one of my professors at Trinity. He's from China. Suffering and persecution are very much a reality for the believers in many parts of the world. Paul reminds these believers that their suffering is not in vain and that it often serves to build up the churches. It may perhaps seem surprising to believers in other parts of the world when these suffering brothers and sisters are not always envious of the life of the church in the, he puts free in quotations, free world, since they fully understand the sanctifying power of suffering in creating an alert community that thirsts for the final consummation of God's kingdom. In a meeting with pastors of underground churches in a closed society, I was struck by the response they gave when asked of the greatest worries they have for their churches. The end of the persecutions of our churches. Their response reflects a realization that the lack of suffering and affliction can often lead to a lazy church that is no longer alert in her existence between the times waiting the return of Christ. For those in the free world, we are called to be alert as faithful witnesses in our own context. We are also called to identify with the suffering of believers around the world through prayer, financial support, and short-term and long-term missions work. Do I have to draw this out? I mean, do we all see this? That the lack of suffering has produced a lazy church in America? Yet our brothers and sisters in China and places where there's persecution, you ask them, what is their greatest worry? And they say that the persecutions would stop. But what are we worried about? We're worried about the persecution starting. We're afraid for the day that it will be illegal to be a Christian, or for preaching the name of Christ or standing upon His word will send us to jail because of hate speech. I'm not saying that suffering is fun. I'm not saying that we desire suffering for suffering's sake. But when we have a perspective like this, that suffering builds up the church, that the sufferings of the church glorifies God, and that it sanctifies us as a church, and that it makes known to the world that Jesus is Lord, and that we're willing to suffer anything for His name. It's hard to be a Christian in America. I think we often have the other mindset, a different mindset than that, right? It's hard to be a Christian in China. That's what we think. It's hard to be a Christian in the Middle East. Yeah, it's hard because there's hard sufferings, but they would tell you it's hard to be a Christian in America because it's easy to get complacent. You can't be complacent about our gathering when we're worried about the police coming in and arresting us. You can't be complacent about preaching Christ to the lost because they might, because you know they're going to perish eternally, knowing that proclaiming Christ to them might put you in jail or might cause you to lose your business. And it's not that there's not persecution here. It's just that we know how to avoid it. I just came up with a thought would be an interesting way for us to think about this because sometimes doing things in the reverse hits us differently. So here are a few ways, I think there's seven, seven ways that you can avoid suffering for Christ. First way you can avoid suffering for Christ in America is keep your Christianity private. Only talk about what you really believe at home or at church. Another way to not suffer for being a Christian, only preach Christ if it comes up in conversation. Don't probe people about what they believe about God or what they think about Jesus Christ. Don't impose your own Christianity on others. It's okay if they know you're a Christian, but never give them the impression that you expect them to convert, that you expect them to trust in Christ, or that you believe they're under the wrath of God. And when you do share Christ with someone, do it by recommending a resource that you hope they read or listen to, or invite them to church, but leave the hard work of showing someone their sin and their need of a savior to someone else. Another way you can avoid suffering is to speak about sin generally, never specifically. See, no one minds hearing about original sin as long as we don't talk about actual sins. Everyone can agree that the world has evil in it, but woe to the one who points out the evil in someone's heart. You can avoid suffering by avoiding topics that you know will cause offense because of your Christian beliefs. abortion, homosexuality, feminism, I don't know. Could probably name ten more. Another way we can avoid suffering is staying out of situations that are potentially dangerous. Never go into bad neighborhoods. Reach out to the poor because of fear. Keep your kids safe from every danger. Teach them to avoid risks and live a safe life. Don't ever encourage your children to go overseas. to places in the world that are dangerous to serve Christ, insist that there is a greater need here in the comfort of their own homes. Another way we can avoid suffering is by paying homage to the cultural idols. We already mentioned some of them. But we can come up with middle ways, you know. It's okay if you're tempted with certain things as long as you don't act on them. the desire itself isn't wrong, even though it springs out of your heart. There's so many things that we could name. But church, we are joyfully to share in the sufferings of Christ. And we avoid suffering because we don't want to be bold, because we know it may bring hardship and sorrow. And it should not be We should be those who are bold. Now, not jerks, right? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about go out and try to figure out the best way you can offend someone so that they'll think you're a jerk and you can share in Christ's sufferings. No, I'm talking about going because you have a conviction in your heart that they're perishing, that the wrath of God is coming. And if you don't call them to Jesus, if you don't say, repent of your sins and trust in Christ, they will perish. How is it, and I say this to my own self, how is it that we have such a worldly perspective that we're so worried about our prosperity and our comfort that when someone's eternal life is in the balance, we're more concerned about what they think about us? How vain are we? How proud are we? Do you believe that the wrath of God is coming? And that all those who have not trusted in Christ are under His wrath? Do you believe that? Do you know it to be true? Do you know that there is eternal torment in hell that is rightly due to man? And that the only hope is Jesus Christ? who paid for every sin. What is the first word of the gospel? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. We said this last week. Repentance and faith go hand in hand. You can't have them separate. And you will be able to avoid suffering if all you preach is faith with no repentance. But faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. When you turn away from your old life, you're turning to Christ, right? Repentance is turning around. So, repent is turn away from sin and trust in Jesus. That's how you come to Christ and that's the whole Christian life, is a life of repentance and faith. Turning from sin and trusting in Christ. The Holy Spirit's ministry is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And God has ordained means to reach his end. And the means by which the Holy Spirit uses to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment is the witness of God's people. the witness of God's people. And as we witness, as we speak truth out of love, right? Speak the truth in love. And one of the things that's very unloving to do is to let someone perish in their sin. Are you willing to suffer for Jesus? And one other thing. Are you willing? Are you to teach your children To suffer for Jesus. I have two children that are so precious to me. And I don't want anything to happen to them. But what? What kind of crowns in eternity am I keeping from them if I teach them not to suffer for the gospel of Jesus Christ? What glory for the Son of God am I keeping back that they can give Him because I will not teach them to suffer? To be willing to be bold to the peril of their own life. We must teach our children, saints, not to seek safety and to seek all the great things of this world, to have the best job and the biggest house. The Lord may bless them with a great business sense. I don't know. Not everybody's going to be a missionary to Saudi Arabia. But you do not hold your children back from going to Saudi Arabia to preach Christ. If they lay their life down for Jesus, glory to the Lamb of God, and they will receive their reward. We need to have a new mindset that does not see suffering as a defect, but the lack of suffering as a defect. And if you love Jesus and you love your children, you will teach your children. You will go with them to places that aren't safe. And you will teach them to care for the needy and to preach Christ to those in need. This is what we're called. This is what Christians have always done. But for some reason, we're not doing it. Close with the story of missionary John G. Patton. who was a Scottish minister, who was called to be a missionary to the New Hebrides right off the coast of Scotland. And he was firmly convinced in his own mind that God called him to go to these people who had never even heard the name of Jesus and preach Christ to them. And he did. And many came to know Jesus, but it came at the cost of great suffering. You see, the people there were cannibals. And it was there he went with his wife, and after they were there for a few months, they had a son. And that son did not live because of catching a fever from the island. And then his wife also perished, passed away, went to glory, I should say. And he faced suffering. And yet, that was at the beginning of his missionary work. And he continued to minister and to preach Christ. And God did a great work through him. Whenever a new people have been reached for Christ, the doorway has been opened through great suffering. Think of Nate Saint and Jim Elliott. And one of the things with John G. Patton that was striking to me is how much his dad wanted to be a pastor but couldn't. It just wasn't in his calling. But he prayed for his children. And he prayed that the Lord would use them in a ministry like that. And when he came to his parents and told them that he was headed, that God wanted him to go to this island of cannibals, you know what they told him? We have been praying for this since you were a child. And they knew what suffering it would cost. Do we love Christ and His gospel more than life itself? That's the question before us. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that You love us with an everlasting love. And though I'm sure that if it was up to our plans and if we were the ones making decrees before the foundations of the world, we would have wanted to do this without suffering, but you are eternally wise, and you are eternally good. And so we trust your word, and we trust your sovereign will, that whatever suffering you have for us, I know that we are not at the point where we will face death here in this country. But give us the strength to be bold, Even if it costs us friendships. Give us strength to be bold, as the believers prayed in Acts, Lord. Give us strength to be bold. Even if it's gonna cost us our job. Even if it costs us a relationship with one of our children, with our spouse. That we will hold fast to Jesus and be committed to Him, no matter what the cost. We want to take up our cross and follow you. Forgive us for being lazy. Forgive us for not having zeal. Forgive us for being fearful and cowardice. Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit. Give us your courage and your strength, knowing that we have nothing to fear, because He who has conquered death is on our side. It's in his precious name, the name of Jesus that we pray. And we ask you to give us strength and boldness. Amen.