I'm looking out in the crowd here, and I see more than one. I see multiple bow ties. And I'm thinking, there must be some sort of inspiration. Sunday school brings out the best in people, in young men who want to wear bow ties. Joel, where's your bow tie? Yeah, you are, you know. Yeah, you are. Losing your edge. All right. All right, we got slides, we're good. All right, let us open in a word of prayer. Dear God and Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Lord, again for the day that you have made. for bringing us here together, for gathering your saints in one place that we can worship you, learn more about you, and see a little bit more, Lord, of the way you have revealed yourself to be. I pray that this hour would be an encouraging one to the saints and that it would be something worth pondering this afternoon. Lord, we thank you again for your grace in our lives and just ask that you bless this time. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. And then I'm going to just go ahead and say a little bit less on the volume there, I think, is needed. You can all hear me just fine, right? Okay. All right, so we are in week four of faithfulness when the heat is on. For those who haven't been here before, we're looking at a biblical and historical perspective on Christian persecution. And this week the topic is how do we respond to people who persecute us? How do we respond specifically to those people? Just a look at where we've been. Pastor Gan introduced it with a definition of Christian persecution. What do we mean by Christian persecution, right? And we said that it entails being persecuted and being persecuted because you're a Christian, right? Not just because you've been difficult or some other reason like that. And that it has to hit a certain threshold of being persecuted, not just being disagreed with or cut off in traffic. Something like that. And then he continued on and we talked about the reality that we are to expect Christian persecution. And why is that? And we looked at a number of passages where we talked about, where we looked at the scripture sort of making that assumption that you would in fact see persecution. That persecution was a reality to be expected in the life of the Christian. In the last week, we looked at some examples from the scripture of the way that the saints throughout the biblical history have responded to persecution. And we talked about a few valid options, right? We said, you know, there's this command to rejoice. And we said, really? And then the answer was, yes, really. We really are supposed to rejoice in persecution. Some of the believers, when persecution arose in Jerusalem, they fled. And we said there's no condemnation in scripture for having tried to escape from persecution, or at least the intensity of it. Here in blue, we talked about the option to faithfully endure, and we're going to kind of unpack that a little bit today, just as we talk about a lot of the commands that some of the apostles and that Christ himself gives to believers seem to apply inside of that. inside of that place where we are staying and faithfully enduring. We talked a little bit about the option to fight back, and we said, really? And the answer seemed to be, no, not really. Not saying total pacifism is required of us, but that certainly scripture doesn't emphasize retaliation or fighting back against persecution. And then we said, in the context of Christian liberty, there's always the option to do something else. This is not an exhaustive list, and there would seem to be freedom available to the believer to do something else to respond to persecution. So here's where we've been, here's where we are today. How do we respond to the people who have it out to us or have it out for us? Or how do we respond to society that has it out for us? And then Pastor John will take it up next week with the specific question of how do we respond to government? And so we're gonna try to leave that for next week and not talk about it much today. okay so we're going to just look at a few biblical admonitions for those who would stay and faithfully endure so let's just go ahead and look at a couple passages uh... addressing a christian's response to his or her persecutors not to persecution per se but to uh... for those doing the persecution and i'm just gonna put a caveat here i was a little bit overwhelmed i was a little bit surprised as i tried to do to have due diligence as I go through the New Testament and look at the commands here, there are a lot of them. And I was surprised at how many there were. And just as I tried to put more and more slides together, I started to realize that I had more slides than I had minutes, and that was probably a bad thing. And so there's just a lot of commands here. And we'll see, just picked a few of them. Okay, so we're going to look at a few principled responses to persecution. Principle number one, be wise and blameless before unbelievers. The assumption here being that hopefully there are no Christians persecuting you for being a Christian. Right, okay. Jesus says, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. So I've highlighted here this command, be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. And I'll come back to why innocent is in red there in just a moment. But before we move on to a question, let's look at another passage that kind of teaches the same thing. So here's Peter writing, he says, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. and keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So here we have two commands to keep your conduct good or honorable, to be wary, to be wise, and I would like to just ask What does it mean here to be as wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove? Can you read that? What comes to mind? Be winsome but honest. Okay, so to be winsome meaning to be approachable, and even there's an element of being attractive there, right, to be someone who's not difficult to be around. Honest, meaning not hiding things, perhaps. Not to be deceitful, gotcha. You know. I think Jesus hid it. He wasn't unaware. But yeah, so that's interesting. So Pastor John said that Jesus was pretty savvy about his dealings with those who would oppose him, say the Pharisees, but he was completely innocent. And think of all the times in the Gospels where either the Pharisees or the Sadducees or some religious teacher comes to Jesus with a trick question and wants to kind of catch Jesus in unrighteousness and just light over it. and find some cause to whip him up and crucify him for that, right? That's ultimately not what they do. They kind of take that tack, no matter the fact that he never implicated himself in a guilty way. But Jesus, you know, he's wise. He escapes from sin. Yeah, I think, so Cindy said, just looking at the doves, there's sort of a picture of peace in our day, but maybe in Jesus' time, it's more of a picture of innocence or the goodness. So here's another question that I think this begs is, sometimes, let's say you see persecution coming. You can see there's a situation in front of you. Are you obligated? to lean into that? Is there a wisdom principle here in trying to step back and avoid that? What do you think? All right, so Jeff says that there's a proverb that says a wise man sees trouble coming and hides. So Deb says, you know, we talked last week about the command from Jesus that if you're persecuted in one city, flee to the next. So we talked a little bit last week about how flight is an option. And so what I really am trying to get at here is when confronted with an opportunity for persecution. Maybe it's not even that you see it coming like it's imminent, but here's a situation where I could speak up and the response is sure to be persecution. I think some of us, I think some of us have a tendency to kind of say, you know what? I feel compelled by conscience. I'm going to make an opportunity for Christian testimony. And I think some others of us are going to feel like, boy, this is just going to make this situation way more difficult. And I don't know that I necessarily have to do this. Does that make sense? Can you imagine a similar situation? How would you feel in that situation? If you had a sense that there's an opportunity to give your testimony, but it's just going to be this huge offense, what do you think you could do? Perhaps it's here. And if you don't know, if evil is your sex partner, mother, if there's wisdom in this. Deb says it's a position of the heart, so if you have an opportunity to, say, give your testimony, where's the balance of not being ashamed of Christ before men, but also recognizing that there's no command, that it is just the manly thing to do, or the macho thing to do, or the prudent thing to do, to just always lean into conflict, and that's gonna bring an offense in. I think there's a wisdom principle there, right? I don't think it's totally clear that just because you have an opportunity that you have to take wisdom. Neha? Sure, so Nathan was just commenting on the persecuted church throughout the world and how sometimes operations are secret or clandestine and there's a sense in which you're definitely trying to avoid arrest as a strategic means of enduring for a long time, right? So that you have opportunities to sow the seeds of the gospel when those opportunities come up. Well, okay, let's look at principle response number two. So here, you know, from Pastor Tom's sermon a few weeks ago, I think we were in January at 29. And in this passage, Jeremiah is bringing a message to those who have been exiled off to Babylon. And it's interesting because this deportation of the people to Babylon has actually become something of a metaphor for the Christian life. Many saints have often referred to living in Babylon, right? And there's that feeling of really don't quite fit here, that many of us have as we interact with society. And so I think these words, while originally directed, of course, to those exiles there, that feeling of exile I think we can resonate with as we read this. So these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. The dot, dot, dot there, I'll skip, you know, spoiler alert, not a popular message he's about to preach. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your wealth. So what Jeremiah is saying to those exiles is settle in. This isn't going to be quick. This is going to be a generations long sojourn in the wilderness again, or kind of captivity in Babylon. And so you are instructed to seek the good of that Babylonian society, even though what they just did in taking you off was evil. All right, seek the good of that society because to the extent that you build into it, it will bless you back. So what do you think, how do we apply that to us? I mean, is there a principle here, not taking the command and saying this is for us, but I mean, is there a principle here that we... Okay. What does that look like? How does a Christian be a good citizen? Absolutely, and in fact, I've highlighted the word welfare here, and in the previous slides, I highlighted the word good, right? We're gonna see this theme come up over and over again. To seek the good of the place that you live. Terry has made the point, you know, maybe even to be able to affect something of change in that society. So I asked already what a distinctly Christian way of seeking the good of society would look like. To Terry's comments, I'll ask this question. Hannah, a Christian, join the military or be a civil servant in a government of an unrighteous nation. It would be a really awkward time to find out that Pastor Tom thinks not. It's all unrighteous nation. I don't know that I see a nation on the map that would be just like, well that nation's sane. I don't think God's gonna judge that nation anytime soon. You know, there's always this sense in which the power behind a nation tends to attract the evil hearts of men, and nations certainly sin grievously without exception. So I was thinking of Daniel and some of his cohort were actually part of the government of Babylon. And I can think of another Old Testament example. Who can read my mind? Joseph, there, thank you. Not a plant. That was organic. Okay, so let's look at principle response number three. Bless those who persecute you. So, somehow in my mind I had not really seen the connection that there is sort of Christ's commands to do this, and there is apostolic commands to do this, but this is from Romans 12, and I actually kind of thought that I might break out every single command in this chapter, but there's like 50 of them, and I thought to myself, you know, there's, here's something to memorize, right? You thought you were impressive when you memorized the Ten Commandments, well look, here's like 25, right? Rejoice in hope. We already saw that one. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. By the way, there were plenty of commands before I started up earlier in the chapter. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty. Associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. We pay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Okay, so there we have that thought again. I should have highlighted that. Do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. The contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will keep burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Here we are, scriptural exhortation number three, to respond to persecution by being good. Now, I think when we hear being good or do good, we often think of the commands we give to our children, like, I'll be good, which kind of means don't be bad, right? I'm going to the grocery store, I'll be back in five minutes. Try not to burn the car down, right? Be good. Right? But here I think doing good is more than just failing to do evil. What do you think the apostle has in mind here? And I just told you with principle number two. Jacob, I saw him. What does it mean to do good? Well, I think it has... It requires... Like what he said, rejoice in hope. That's active. Be patient. That's active. Be constant in prayer. Yeah, so I think you've hit the nail on the head, actually. Doing good here refers, earlier in the passage, to all these, you should do these things, right? Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. I think you hit the nail on the head, too, when you said it's not just a failure to do evil, it's a replacement of evil with good. In fact, it says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, and I think that that can look, like you said, in a sort of active conscious way, but I think it can also be something we do, I don't want to say unconsciously, but maybe by just the way that we organize our lives, right? So in your case, maybe you get up in the morning, you go to class, you take your exams, you do your homework, you're faithful to that task in front of you, and I'd say that's doing a good thing. And that's ultimately what the aim of blessing the society that you're in, right? So in there, you'll find your good. So I think there is a sense here in which there's an ordinariness to this command, right? This is not an exceptional thing. But let's ask the question anyway. What does it mean to overcome evil? For me, it speaks that it's not necessarily going to stop the evil, but in my heart, doing all those things will overcome in the sense of not being broken down by it. I will be blessed in my heart. Because if I manage all those commands by God's grace, then I'm not going to have the mentality of revenge. There's a lot there. Deb basically said that not being overwhelmed by evil, but enduring is part of it. That your mind is still not being persecuted, and you're just enduring through it. That if I do those things that the Father has prescribed in earlier in the chapter, that in earnest, I will be in a different mindset. My heart will be at peace. It was even a sense of overcoming evil, even just in your heart, in your disposition of peace for the world, and not panicking, right? You know, something we'll say later, and I think maybe this is what you're getting at too, is not enduring persecution in such a way that messages outward that the good that you experience in this life is your ultimate treasure, right? That you are looking to a homeland beyond just this life. I thought this is interesting because we took pains last week to say, don't fight back, right? It's not really a viable option. And here, the apostle even says, never avenge yourselves, repay no one evil for evil. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And yet in the same chapter, same series of commands, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So I don't get the sense here that this doesn't, that what's being said here is don't resist evil. So there is a sense in which there is an appropriate resistance for the Christian, and there's an inappropriate resistance. So what would be an appropriate way of resisting evil? There's a lot there, it's really good. Just to summarize it, we have plenty of examples of even modern day saints who are, or recent historical saints, who are doing good by trying to overcome some systemic injustices in society. Orphanages, trying to take care of orphans and widow care, hospitals. Some more hands, Joel. don't worship the false god that is being presented before you, but worship the one true god. So to unpack that, do you have a lot of idol worshipers in your social circles? Yes. Yes. That's right. You got it. So I guess what I meant is in terms of like graven image, worshippers. I guess not, right? But you know, there are the idols of the heart, right? Right, so Joanne's point is that we can even participate in what you might call a political solution towards overcoming evil, right? Seeking justice through the courts in some cases. Okay, principle response number four. Peter writes again, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. We looked at this already. As though there's something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Let those who suffer according to God's will and trust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. So there is so much here, and I think that you could give an entire sermon just on this. But ultimately here I think I see two things, right? There's the admonition to do good. I think there's an affirmation that God has a purpose. in allowing persecution, that God is sovereign over it. We talked about that last week. We'll talk about it again later. And I think there's even this sense of confirmation, right? If you share Christ's sufferings, then the Spirit of God, there's a confirmation in this persecution that you are being held fast by the God who rescued you. But again, here's this admonition to do good. So let's just take some summary statements here. Biblical principles for enduring persecution. Not an exhaustive list at all, but we talked about being wise in the way we approach our relationships with those around us, with unbelievers. Talked about being innocent and blameless regarding evil. Not being rightfully accused of wrongdoing. Doesn't mean we won't be accused anyway. but it should not be a legitimate accusation. Seek the good of those around you and society in general. Do not be ashamed of Christ or of persecution for his sake. I don't think we need to seek it out, but when it comes, there's no shame in being persecuted. In fact, we're supposed to glory in it. Do not endure suffering in such a way that signals to the world that happiness in this world is your true treasure. So taking those principles together and maybe calling those the endurance principles, how to endure, and also looking at, hey, you know it's legitimate to flee or to do something else. I thought we might take the last five, 10 minutes here and just look at a couple scenarios. I don't have anything necessarily in mind, but I just want to get the discussion going. Okay, scenario. You volunteer with Samaritan's Purse or Habitat for Humanity, something like that, and your woke friend on social media maybe condemns you publicly for associating with a group whose Christian convictions are bigoted and hateful. What's your response? Get off social media. Get off social media. Flee! That's what you're saying, right? Flee! Okay, I think that's legit, right? I mean, sure, why not? So I figured what the name of that principle is, right? But Sean is saying, you don't have to make this conflict as public as it needs to be, right? Put your selfie camera on and you're confronting your friend, live streaming that. You can do this privately if you choose to do it at all, right? Can you say nothing? Think that's legit? I'm sorry, what are your names? I'm Kara. I would probably try to, it depends on, it'd be appropriate not to respond to some of these questions. It depends on the level of friendship you have. If you know them really well and you feel like the enemy, then I would probably try to talk to them about it and explain, like, what Swerden's purse actually does, or these organizations actually And I would do it not publicly, definitely, and probably in person or in a group. I can see two principles in Kara's response. She said, if you're going to try to defend this, you might make the phone call. So I think there's a principle of maybe peacekeeping there. But there's also a sense in which she said, you can defend the organization. I would see that as overcoming evil with good, right? Saying, hey, actually, this is a I had in mind here Samaritan's Purse because there was a great deal of COVID relief that Samaritan's Purse did, only to be kicked out of those contexts when it was no longer expedient to have them there. Okay. That's enough of that one. Oh, this one. You or your child applies for a college scholarship but is denied because college that she wants to attend is Christian. Is this too real? Is there a typo? There's a typo, that's what it is. A coworker mocks you because your desire to honor Christ with your sexuality prevents you from having fun. How do you respond? They profoundly disagree. I like it. Don't flee, but overcome evil with good. You tell your neighbor that you teach your children that Jesus is the only way to have peace with God, and she calls the authorities to report your family as being in an unhealthy environment. Hire a lawyer. I mean, if you use the faith that you have before you to heal, that you think it's appropriate to hire a lawyer. Well, assuming that there's actually being provocation against the school. Yeah, okay. I mean, this is getting into the government piece of it. Right. Yeah, someone knocks on your door. Can I talk to your kids? You know, are you a member of HSLDA? Yeah. You can knock on the door. Yeah, right. It's the same with the Christian school. If by law, they discriminate against me because I'm a Christian, absolutely. It's the means of volunteerness for most of our families. Right? I like this, right? We use these means, right? These means are part of finding justice in our society. I don't, yeah, right. I don't think we need to shy away from all litigious kinds of solutions just because we're not to avenge ourselves, right? I don't see that as vengeance, I see that as justice, right? So certainly that could be a legitimate option. I think that's not the only legitimate option, but I think it's a legitimate option. Henry? I think the principle behind what you're saying, talk to your neighbor, if at all possible, as much as depends on you, live in peace with all men. Your supervisor at work denies you a promotion because you will not work on Sunday. So first question, is this Christian persecution or not? I can see some of you think, yes, definitely. Some of you think, well, Did you take the job knowing that working on Sunday was part of the deal? Yeah, I think this is a, this is, it depends. So, I'm going to call, I'm going to call that, why is a serpent innocent as it does, right? You know, using wisdom principles and the jobs you take, you know, if you're, you're Ox is in a ditch, so to speak, on Sunday, right? I mean, I don't think it's wrong for you to reply to your employer's diminution of work, but there could be consequences. You also could just suffer. What's that? You also could just suffer. Just suffer. I don't need you to worry. Thank you. Good. I don't have to worry about certain things. There you go. Yeah, do bad thoughts. It's not grand, but I see your hand. I think also part of it could be, is this a regular thing that they're asking for you to do? Regularly, I think it's... I don't know. You were saying, you're subject to it, and to kind of bear that burden. If it's something, kind of do a regular lab and ask for some of these burdens, okay? Not to make a big deal about it, I'll make sure that I don't let it I don't want to be a team player. I want to serve and be able to just do that. Yeah, I see a lot of principles in your response, right? So seek the good of the society that you live in, right? You said something to the extent of, it sounded like, if this is an irregular thing, maybe you just kind of go with it. But if it comes up a lot, maybe you find a way to explain to your employer, right, that this is something you'd like to request not to have to do. Retask it. I'll hand this over here to Emily. Yeah, you accepted the job that you have. You don't need a promotion. There's the principle there of not living in such a way that signals that this world's goods is the ultimate good in your life. I think we got time for maybe one more. Your company or maybe your child's school or your school consistently celebrates evil as good and condemns good as evil. Homeschool your kids? OK. Are we obligated to homeschool our kids? I want to hear that no. Yeah, we're not obligated to homeschool our kids. Are we allowed to homeschool our kids? Is that an option? Yes. So there's a question there. Is that a very refined way of fleeing? I kind of think of that, right? I mean, there's some nuance there. what's the phrase, falling with style, right? It's a way to, I think, establish a parallel structure where we're getting the educational good and maybe avoiding some things that are challenging the conscience. Way in the back, Melanie. Right. Yeah. So to make your point as short as I can. The idea there is we are absolutely not excused from obeying other scriptural commands and fulfilling other obligations that we see in scripture just because we're being persecuted. So if you see this situation, you might make the decision to bring your kids home and school them there, even if that means mom can't work outside the home, because even though that decision is costly, the decision is good as you pursue the vocation that God has called you to, to bring up your children, and if you're in that mission of the Lord. You don't have to cost me to do it anyway. I like that. We'll do two more. So I saw Nick, and then we'll do a few here. In the case of a company, it's going to get more and more tough. I understand the thing that you've that you're not required to personally go along with that or be the face of an evil stance. You're perfectly to stay there at first and not participate in that evil stance. It's probably a good idea to have one of the companies in your back pocket that you can go to or start looking just so that the male enforces it. So it sounds like Nick's response is to know where the line is that you won't cross and maybe make plans to flee is an option way of putting it. and as long as you're not being called to sin or to personally praise sin, there is a sense to where we're supposed to be alight in a dark place and should, in some cases, stay and be alight to those who think differently. Yeah, so to your... Right, I think you're right. It depends on the situation, and I even think of man here, right? Bear witness for Christ. You know, maybe that opportunity is something, the opportunity to bear witness is something worth enduring for. All right, we got to wrap it up, so you'll have to go unanswered, and maybe you can discuss it later with each other. Let's thank the Lord. Lord God, we do thank you for this hour. And Lord, we ask that you would prepare our hearts for morning worship. Just as we come before you, Lord, as needy people, we need to be refreshed. Lord, we pray that we would be able to leave some of the baggage behind, so to speak, as we turn to the task in front of us to glorify you, to worship you, and also to hear from you in your word. I pray that you would plant that word down deep inside of our hearts, and that it would bear fruit in our lives, the lives of our children, and in the lives of our church. I pray this, Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.