Remixing persecution
This week's study is on Acts 4:4-8:
The days of the early church were days of heavy persecution. Christians were being driven out of their homes, separated from their family and friends and livelihoods. Churches were being forcibly disbanded and their members scattered to places where persecution hadn't yet reached. It seemed disastrous.
On one side, church planting is starting to look like an exercise in futility. No sooner do you get something off the ground and starting to look like a success then a bunch of thugs come in and ruin it for everyone. And on the other side, you have a humanitarian disaster. Whole towns are being ethnically cleansed of Christians. Refugees are flooding other towns which are already struggling under brutal Roman rule. The kindest, gentlest people in the region are being slaughtered.
But look what God does with the situation! How many missionaries does a typical church send out? Maybe a handful out of every hundred? But now because of persecution, the churches become nearly 100% missionaries! People who might have never even encountered a Christian are now experiencing the power of God directly in their lives. Demons are being cast out. Sicknesses are being healed. The medical and spiritual arms of the kingdom of God have entered these regions that never knew them. How else would they have gotten there in such numbers?
Mankind's fallen murderous nature and Satan's hatred of God are both featured in the opening act, but the power of God is the star of the show here. The thing meant to destroy the church has actually weaponized it and broadcast its embers into the surrounding fields. The scriptures say that when the crowds saw the signs that Philip performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. How many of those people would have paid attention to God's message had the people not been driven out of their comfortable churches?
Many demons were cast out and many people were healed. How many of those people would have been cured or set free if no persecution had come to Philip's church? Instead, the power of God to affect even the most hopeless of people was put on display in front of them all.
It says there was great joy in that city. That joy was the fruit of the pain and horror and misery that was planted through persecution. All of that suffering was redeemed as joy and freedom and wellness. How cool is that?
Imagine if the thriving underground church in places where it's currently endangered were able to escape and get refugee status in some of our militantly secular first world nations. Imagine they begin sharing their stories on TV, performing miracles nobody has ever seen. Diseases are cured. People whose minds and bodies have been tormented are now free of all symptoms. Nobody can explain it except for the power of a God they never realized actually existed. Doesn't that seem almost too good to be true? But that's what God did in the early church!
God takes hopeless situations and turns them around to be wonderful ones. Even persecution, the main thing people point to and ask "Why does God allow this" can be remixed into something wonderful, a source of joy for everyone.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.
The days of the early church were days of heavy persecution. Christians were being driven out of their homes, separated from their family and friends and livelihoods. Churches were being forcibly disbanded and their members scattered to places where persecution hadn't yet reached. It seemed disastrous.
On one side, church planting is starting to look like an exercise in futility. No sooner do you get something off the ground and starting to look like a success then a bunch of thugs come in and ruin it for everyone. And on the other side, you have a humanitarian disaster. Whole towns are being ethnically cleansed of Christians. Refugees are flooding other towns which are already struggling under brutal Roman rule. The kindest, gentlest people in the region are being slaughtered.
But look what God does with the situation! How many missionaries does a typical church send out? Maybe a handful out of every hundred? But now because of persecution, the churches become nearly 100% missionaries! People who might have never even encountered a Christian are now experiencing the power of God directly in their lives. Demons are being cast out. Sicknesses are being healed. The medical and spiritual arms of the kingdom of God have entered these regions that never knew them. How else would they have gotten there in such numbers?
Mankind's fallen murderous nature and Satan's hatred of God are both featured in the opening act, but the power of God is the star of the show here. The thing meant to destroy the church has actually weaponized it and broadcast its embers into the surrounding fields. The scriptures say that when the crowds saw the signs that Philip performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. How many of those people would have paid attention to God's message had the people not been driven out of their comfortable churches?
Many demons were cast out and many people were healed. How many of those people would have been cured or set free if no persecution had come to Philip's church? Instead, the power of God to affect even the most hopeless of people was put on display in front of them all.
It says there was great joy in that city. That joy was the fruit of the pain and horror and misery that was planted through persecution. All of that suffering was redeemed as joy and freedom and wellness. How cool is that?
Imagine if the thriving underground church in places where it's currently endangered were able to escape and get refugee status in some of our militantly secular first world nations. Imagine they begin sharing their stories on TV, performing miracles nobody has ever seen. Diseases are cured. People whose minds and bodies have been tormented are now free of all symptoms. Nobody can explain it except for the power of a God they never realized actually existed. Doesn't that seem almost too good to be true? But that's what God did in the early church!
God takes hopeless situations and turns them around to be wonderful ones. Even persecution, the main thing people point to and ask "Why does God allow this" can be remixed into something wonderful, a source of joy for everyone.
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