Youth Sermon on Persecution

Throughout this past week I worked on preparing my talk for the youth ministry this coming Sunday. I normally have three struggles when I am preparing a sermon: first not knowing what to say; second, after some time spent researching and studying, having too much to say and not knowing what to cut out of the talk; and third, often personal struggles and convictions. It was this third problem that was a continual difficulty for me in preparing my talk for Sunday on the last beatitude: blessed are the persecuted. As I began to research this beatitude, as I have been during my previous teachings on the beatitudes I read Gregory of Nyssa’s sermon on this eighth beatitude and according to his writing early Christians threw themselves headlong in eagerness toward persecution. This of course did not originate with Gregory for we also find it in Hebrews: “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection” (11:35). As an American with implanted cultural values such as the utmost importance of human life above all other things (humanism) and production, at first thought it seems to me that the wiser choice would be to flee persecution, preserve your life and then spread the gospel to others. Does that not seem like a much more sensible choice? Yet both Jesus and the author of Hebrews commends those who are persecuted. And so I wrestle.

Here is my talk:

MESSAGE

Beatitudes: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because great is their reward in heaven (Matthew 5:10-12)


INTRODUCTION

(While adding ice and salt to a five gallon bucket of water and then stirring say) I am creating an incredibly cold bucket of water, with not only ice, but salt which lowers the temperature at which water freezes, thus creating extremely cold water. I have here twenty marbles (drop them in the bucket) I also have twenty one dollar bills of which I will give you one dollar for every marble that you take out of the bucket—with your toes. Now this is going to hurt—BAD! Who is willing to go for it?


Why was _____ willing to go through the pain of sticking his foot into freezing cold water? Because he was no thinking about the pain of the water, but about the reward. That is what Jesus was saying when he said “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12). I have only two points: Persecution and Reward.


PERSECUTION

So onto number one: Persecution: Just a few months ago Chinese Christians were attempting to build a church for about 5,000 parishioners. “Witnesses told TIME that at about 2:30 p.m., thousands of uniformed police and plainclothes security officers appeared at the construction site. The police cleared a way through the crowds for a few drill-equipped backhoes, and the authorities then demolished the church. Witnesses say police bludgeoned people indiscriminately with nightsticks. "They were picking up women--some of them old ladies--by their hair and swinging them around like dolls, then letting them crash to the ground," says a man who watched the clash from across the street.” [1] Yet even with all of this persecution there are currently there are 65 million Chinese believers and thousands more converting every day.[2]


By the time he was fourteen years old Richard Wurmbrand had became an atheist and believed that notions toward religion or believing in God were harmful toward humanity. Yet, for some odd reason he was continually drawn toward churches and would often listen to sermons, yet nothing changed in his heart. One day he prayed, “God, I know surely that you do not exist. But if perchance you exist, which I contest, it is not my duty to believe in You; it is Your duty to reveal Yourself to me.”[3]


During this same time an old builder who lived high up in the village also prayed that God would give him his reward here on earth as well as in heaven and prayed that his reward would be bringing a Jew to Christ since Jesus was born to the Jewish people. Now this was an odd prayer for him to pray since there were no Jews in his village. Interestingly, Richard Wurmbrand was a Jew and he said that for no reason at all he felt drawn to that village. There were twelve-thousand villages in Romania, yet he went to that one. Richard Wurmbrand went on to tell that that when he went to the village that old builder went after him like never a young boy went after a beautiful girl and he gave him a Bible to read. Now Richard Wurmbrand had read the Bible before out of cultural interest, but this was different. The old builder would later tell Richard Wurmbrand that he and his wife had prayed for hours and hours for his conversion to Christ. “The Bible he gave me was written not so much in words, but in flames of love fired by his prayers.”[4] He could barely read, but rather cry as he opened the pages and compared his life with Christ’s. He soon came to the faith and became a wildman for Christ spreading the gospel and pasturing those who had come to the faith.


It was during this time that Russians took over Romania and brought communism to power. Richard Wurmbrand considered this to be a great opportunity to spread the gospel since many Russians are raised from childhood as atheists. One day Richard Wurmbrand went into the Russian army barracks and pretended he wanted to buy a watch, but instead he began asking the Russians “Are any of you named Paul or Peter?” some were and he began telling them about the Apostles Peter and Paul. Soon a group of men gathered around him. Returned often to the barracks to talk to the men and many would soon take up the Christian faith. The Russians loved children and he would often send his children to give the solders Bibles and other books about the faith. Soon many Russians came to the faith and Richard Wurmbrand became their pastor. The communists however saw this as a threat to the political system they were trying to build and threw Richard Wurmbrand into prison.


While in jail, the communists wanted him to tell them who and where the rest of the Christians were, but Richard Wurmbrand refused. So they put handcuffs on him that has sharp nails and poked inward toward his wrist. If he remained perfectly still the nails would not hurt. But because it was cold he would began to shake and soon the nails were digging into his skin. Or other times they would put him into a freezer and just before he felt as if he were to die, they would take him out and allow him to become warm and then they would put him back into the freezer again. They did this repeatedly. Or they would make him and the other prisoners stand in boxes with sharp nails and other sharp objects poking inward. As long as you stood perfectly still you would not get poked, but since you were required to stand for hours, standing still was impossible and the objects pierced his sides. Other times in order to get him to deny his faith they would burn him with red hot irons, yet Richard Wurmbrand would not give in.


While he was in prison he preached the gospel to his fellow prisoners. He said we had a deal: we preached, they beat. They were happy beating, we were happy preaching. He told of one man who was caught preaching and sharing his faith and the guards grabbed him, hauled him off and beat him so badly that he could hardly stand and then threw him back into the cell. The man struggled to get up off of the floor and as he pulled himself up he said, “Now brothers where were we?”


Another Christian was burnt with red hot pokers and cut with knives until he had open sores all over his body. Then they forced starving rats into his cell through a pipe, which he had to constantly fight off to keep from attacking him. Even worse when he would not give up the names and locations of Christians he knew outside of the prison they began beating his own son in front him, until finally he could not take it any more and he said, “’Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beating anymore!’ The son answered, ‘Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, “Jesus and my Fatherland.”’ The Communists, enraged, fell upon the child and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the walls of the cell. He died praising God.”[5] The man who watched was never the same after seeing this.


The author of Hebrews wrote “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (11:35-38).


St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote of early Christians: “Thus Paul receives the cross, James the sword; Stephen the stones, the blessed Peter is crucified head downwards. All the later fighters for the faith suffer many forms of torture, being thrown to the beasts and into pits, being burned with fire or frozen with cold, having their sides flayed and their heads transfixed by nails; or their eyes are put out, their fingers cut off, their bodies are rent in two by their legs beign pulled apart, or they suffer starvation. . . Thefore, Blessed are those who suffer persecution for my sake.”[6]


The current rate of martyrdom is 100,000 to 200,000 killed each year and this number is growing as more folks become Christians—even through these horrible persecutions, Christianity continues to grow and thrive.


REWARD

Which brings us to number two: Reward. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10) Here on earth those who are persecuted have the honor of becoming part of a kingdom where Jesus is king. Yet not only are we rewarded here for suffering for Christ but also in heaven. We are to rejoice since Jesus said “great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (5:12). Many times while Richard Wurmbrand was in prison he told of Christians who with smiles and excitement on their faces, were actually happy about their persecutions because they were to be counted among those great prophets of old, heroes of the faith. Isaiah who was sawn in two, Jeremiah who was reviled and thrown into a cistern, and Daniel who was thrown to lions and God delivered him. Our lord and savior Jesus Christ was persecuted, as was the Apostles Peter, who was nailed upside down to a tree, James who was thrown off of the temple and clubbed to death and John who they put inside of a pot of boiling oil. Those who are persecuted get to be part of the group of the great men and women of the faith. Though we do not know exactly what it is, the reward in heaven is great—truly great. The reward will be so great that the sufferings will almost be forgotten as nothing in comparison. Saint Teresa said that an entire life of pain can be compared to one night in an inconvenient hotel, that is how great our reward. Paul said “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).


CONCLUSION

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). “All Christians are persecuted, but some more than others for two reasons. Either they live in an unusually evil environment or they are unusually good Christians. Most of us aren’t good enough to be persecuted much by the paganism of one of the most Christian nations in the world. Since most of us are lukewarm, we are therefore safe, for the world persecutes mainly great saints and great sinners.”[7]


However, for those of us who are willing to do whatever it takes to live righteously as Christians there will be persecution. Yet we take comfort in knowing that “The very worst the world can do is kill us, and all that does is send us Home. There is simply nothing left to fear, “neither death nor life, nor angles nor principalities nor powers, nor any other created thing” (Rom 8:38-39).”[8] The apostle Paul stuck his tongue out at death and said “O death where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?” (1 Cor 15:55)


In your life you may be persecuted at school for living righteously: Maybe it is because your refuse to cheat on a test. Perhaps you have decided to keep yourself sexually pure. Or guys, when everyone else is looking at porn you turn away. Maybe you will be persecuted for refusing to fight someone who is angry at you—and this does not mean simply physical fighting, but also choosing not to fight back with your words. Perhaps you will be made fun of for hanging out with that kid who always has a booger hanging half out of his nose. I do not know what it may be, but my question to you is do you have what it takes to stand up to persecution for doing the right thing. Are you willing to go the distance no matter what the cost?


I would encourage you to find out more about what is going on in the church around the world. You can read more about Richard Wurmbrand’s incredible story, some of which I have shared with you today, in his book, Tortured for Christ which has sold millions of copies and been translated into 65 languages. There is also this series put out by dc Talk called Jesus Freaks and is filled with incredible stories of Christians and their extreme faith and the classic text of great men and women who have been killed for their faith is this book, Fox’s Book of Martyrs. If you are up for some incredible and inspirational stories I would encourage you to buy one of these books.


There was a young Christian girl who communists were intending to arrest because of her faith, yet to make her arrest crueler they waited until her wedding day. As she was standing at the altar getting married to her husband, the secret police burst into the room, grabbed her and put chains on her wrists. The young bride leaned down and kissed the chains and said, “I thank my heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that I am worthy to suffer for him.”[9]


May we also be willing to suffer for the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.



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[1] Simon Elegant / Nangjing "The Ware for China's Soul" Time: From the Magazine (Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1229123,00.html.

[2] Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (Battlesville: Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1998), 12.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid, 13.

[5] Ibid, 34.

[6] St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Beatitudes, “Sermon 8”

[7] Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom For Modern Moral Confusion, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), 184.

[8] Ibid, 187.

[9] Ibid, 38.