Persecution and Mission

Wednesday 25 September

With Rev Dr Patrick Fung

Reading from Acts 11: 19 – 26

This is an amazing passage of a mission movement. I want to begin with v26 “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” The word Christian is only mentioned three times in the Bible. However, the word “disciple” is mentioned over 200 times. These people were radical disciples. The word “radical” comes from a Latin word that describes wholehearted commitment. These disciples were on fire for God even under persecution.

Acts 8:1: The disciples were scattered because there was severe persecution. So far the church had enjoyed tremendous growth. Acts 2: 3,000 added on the day of Pentecost. Acts 4: day after day and in the temple courts and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming... Acts 6: the numbers increased rapidly. Though the church  faced challenges there was significant church growth with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

But from Acts 8 the mood changed drastically. The church faced persecution but in this context we see a mission breakthrough with the gospel spreading to Antioch and beyond. If there is a strategy God has used again and again to spread the gospel, it is suffering and persecution.

Persecution never kills the church but a compromised gospel will.

Let us start at Acts 8:1 – the believers were scattered because of persecution. I appreciate one of the Chinese translations of Acts 8:4… “As they went they proclaimed…”  They were refugees on the run but they carried the gospel wherever they went. Those who were scattered were not the leaders of the church, they were the ordinary Christians. Acts 11… “those who were scattered…” These unnamed disciples went as far as Antioch and began to spread the good news.

They faced uncertainty and instability and yet they were on fire for the gospel. They gossiped the gospel wherever they went. Here is a gospel movement by the unnamed unknown and uncelebrated ordinary disciples.

One time I was invited to visit the archive department in the university of London. The archivist said, “Each file you see here represents one life dedicated to the Chinese.”  Each one was a missionary who had given their lives to the Chinese for the sake of the gospel. I looked at the thousands of files. I recognised some names but there were thousands whose names I never knew. The majority did not make it into the history books.

They lived to be forgotten so that Christ would be remembered.

Michael Green put it succinctly: The global strategy was through unnamed radical fearless disciples of Jesus Christ.

Fearless in proclaiming the gospel

Acts 11:19 They feared God rather than man. Their fearlessness came from a deep fear of God. Everyone was filled with awe. That was the characteristic of the early church. When Peter and John were forbidden to teach the name of Jesus, they said, “We cannot help but speak about what we have seen and heard...” When they went back to the church, they cried out to God for boldness, “Oh Sovereign Lord” Acts 4:24 – 29.

Secondly they asked for God’s mercy to bring healing in miraculous ways (Acts 4:30).

Similarly today as the church faces opposition or persecution of various kinds may we seek the sovereign Lord. May His mercy bring healing to a broken word. May God give us courage to share His word boldly.

They were willing to cross cultural barriers. Some of them went to Antioch Acts 11:20. The gospel spread geographically but also culturally. The mission spread beyond Jews to Gentiles. These Jewish believers were willing to take the gospel to the Greeks. This required a significant mindset change for the early church. These Jews had to lay down their ethnocentrism.

If a Jew helped a Gentile pregnant woman who went into labour, that Jew would never be allowed to enter the temple again as they would be considered permanently unclean.

These were diaspora Jews (some from Cyrene). They had migrated back to Jerusalem. They were multicultural in nature and most likely embraced a different worldview.

This is relevant to us today. Most of us carry some cultural and historical baggage with our own ethnocentrism. I rejoice those whose countries were once enemies are now serving shoulder to shoulder for the sake of His kingdom. Christ has destroy the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.

Demonstrating the Lordship of Christ

Five mentions of the “Lord” – it was not by coincidence the Luke uses this word repeatedly. If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all – Hudson Taylor. These disciples submitted their lives to Jesus’ Lordship.

The Power of Trust

The Apostles sent Barnabas to investigate what was happening. When Barnabas arrived, he saw God at work. He was glad and excited to see the birth of a new international community with Jews and Greeks together. Mission breakthroughs are often at the periphery, not at the centre by the work of the Spirit.

Barnabas was a good man and he encouraged them to stay true to the Lord. His ministry was encouragement and exhortation not control. No wonder the apostles gave him the name Barnabas.

A Scottish Bible scholar called him a man with the “biggest heart.”  He released control and trusted God to work. As a result, a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Sometimes by God’s sovereign grace, he forces us to release control to allow the church to grow.

In 1951, more than 6,000 missionaries had to leave China. “We have always advocated for a self-reliant, self-supporting Chinese church… remarkably a secular government was completing that work.”

Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to Antioch. Even the Jerusalem church was afraid of him. But Barnabas took him and brought him to Antioch. Barnabas chose to trust in Saul. What a powerful example of collaboration. Saul was probably more educated and gifted than Barnabas. By recruiting him, he was jeopardising his own position of power and authority. He was a good man. A man of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, is a secure person, not afraid to release control.

Faith enables him to take the risk of empowering Saul while the others are afraid of him.

The Power of a Faithful Witness

Acts 11:26 – discipleship which is an investment in others is essential for church growth. They must have taught about Christ because  they were first called “Christians” at Antioch. The new believers spoke about Christ wherever they went. They demonstrated a visible faith in word and action.

The historian Josephus gave a powerful example of such visible Christlikeness. “These so called Christians are deeply devoted to Christ. They were the ones who were willing to bury those who had died by leprosy even if their own relatives were afraid to.”

While Luke presents us with the unknown and unnamed, he also shows the double assault on the church by the death of James and the imprisonment of Peter. We cannot avoid opposition and sometimes violent opposition. Chapter 12 – Herod Agrippa was responsible for this double assault. It is a mystery. Why did God intervene to rescue Peter while not James?

“Indeed, throughout church history the pendulum has swung between expansion and opposition, growth and shrinkage, advance and retreat, although with the assurance that even the powers of death and hell will never prevail against Christ’s church, since it is built securely on the rock.” - John Stott

The world will never forget the image of 21 men dressed in orange jumpsuits who were killed by ISIS. The faithful, peaceful utterance of the Lord’s name as they awaited their imminent death. Around the world, it has spoken to millions of people of all faiths that have been inspired by their powerful testimony.

One of the most amazing missionary movement in history was through the Nestorians. Persecution was the main factor in the marvellous expansion in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries. Many of the Nestorians were in the workplace. Traders who were committed to sacrificial living. Wherever they went whether merchants or artisans, clergy or laity they carried the gospel with them. God often allows persecution for the church to grow.

Legislation and societal shifts have resulted in restrictions. And yet God uses the unknown, unnamed and uncelebrated to proclaim the gospel wherever they go. Often in the most unexpected ways. Often at the margins not at the centre.

Persecution can never kill the church. And yet how the church response will make the difference.

Lord come to our help. Let your church declare and display Christ together.

Am I willing to be forgotten so that He can be remembered?

Rev Dr Patrick Fung is a medical doctor, ordained minister, and missionary, and has a PhD in Chinese church history. He currently serves as the Global Ambassador for OMF International and programme chair for the Fourth Lausanne Congress.