Christians & Persecution: What should our response be?

I've probably read 30 articles this week already that have Christians ranting and raving about the media embracing Michael Sam and Jason Collins for being openly gay high profile athletes all while not wanting to hear about the faith of Tim Tebow, the Robertson family, and the twin brothers who had their HGTV show taken away because they didn't support abortion and gay marriage. Although I do see the blatant hypocrisy of global entertainment conglomerates, I am not outraged by it, nor am I surprised by it. Here's why...


When we read the Bible we see over and over and over and over again that as followers of Christ we should not only expect persecution, but that we should almost welcome it.  In fact the Bible has a lot to say about persecution...

2 Timothy 3:12-13 says "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." 

John 15:18-19 says  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 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."

1 Peter 4:12-14 says "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though 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."

Matthew 5:10 says “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Proverbs 29:27 says "An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked."

I could go on and on for paragraphs and paragraphs about persecution but I won't. Instead I'll do two things. The first thing is to encourage you to embrace the persecution that we receive here in America as Christians. The fact that we are receiving flack in the media means we are finally doing something right. The world isn't supposed to love those who stand up for righteousness in the way that they live their lives. To paraphrase the words of God, righteousness is an abomination to the unrighteous. It shouldn't surprise us, it shouldn't anger us, and it sure as heck shouldn't cause us to wine and complain and cry out for injustice.

It should cause us to rely on Christ, to have joy in our sufferings, and to rest assured knowing that according to Jesus, ours is the Kingdom of heaven! I won't ever wish pain on anyone, but I'm not going to pretend that the persecution we get here in America doesn't bring at least a little bit of a smile to my face. I've heard many preachers say, "Don't worry when you're being persecuted, worry when you aren't being persecuted."

The second thing I'll do is invite you to attend FBC Wellington on June 1st at either 9 am or 11 am where I'll be finishing our church's series on the beatitudes on persecution. I'll dive into this idea on a much deeper level and I'd love for you to be there.