Here’s the intro of a 5 part series over at the Thirteen Three blog: “Our generation loves social justice, don’t we!? We genuinely believe that we can make an impact by righting some of the wrongs we see in the world today. As Christians, we are called to work for justice, to care for the poor, the oppressed and the needy […] You might assume that persecution falls into the poverty/justice category. But persecution is not a social justice issue. Let me tell you why.”
Check out each post… Why Persecution Is Not a Social Justice Issue:
- Following Jesus is about dying
- Jesus promises that His followers will be persecuted
- God grows His church through persecution
- We are not trying to stop persecution
- A FINAL WORD: Are we against Social Justice?
It’s a really useful series of posts. It helps the Christian to see that persecution is the normal Christian life. Jesus said to expect it (John 15:20). Many Christians around the world experience it. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12 that “…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Comfortable, middle-class and persecution-free is not the normal for the Christian.
The normality of persecution helps you respond rightly when it comes. Check out the apostles response to it in Acts 5:41 – “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” They don’t complain that their rights have been denied, rather they rejoice and then in v42 they go on and keep preaching Jesus!
Agreed. However, I think I disagree with his “We’re not trying to stop persecution” point. I get that “anyone who wants to live a godly life will suffer”, and that persecution SHOULD be the norm for Christians. But it is evil, and therefore we should want it, seek it, pray it, to stop. But we should realise that it won’t, until Jesus returns.
I can’t imagine living in Indonesia, and the persecution involves the threatening of the life of my family, and not praying for it to cease. I think we have to desire for it to cease, otherwise it becomes not an evil….which is evil.
yeah good call.
i guess it’s an issue of primary importance. this is probably waht the 13:3 blog is picking up, but maybe could state it better? ie – primarily we pray for the persecuted church that they’d keep following Jesus and that they’d persevere no matter what happens. but it is right to pray that God would bring an end to evil and injustice here and now too. yeah?
well, if the prayer for the end of evil and injustice is “your kingdom come”, that seems to make it just as much of a priority. It would be ensuring a mix of the cosmic and personal in one (Thanks Hohne, your eschatology lectures HAVE helped, so it seems).
So God’s restoring of justice and ridding of evil is inextricably connected to the prayer for continued following of Jesus. Both are eschatological in that one longs for the world to be put to rights, and the other longs for the individuals to remain in their faith so they can take part in that eschatological reality, glorifying God in the process.
I dunno, does that make sense? I guess what 13:3 are ensuring is that we don’t have a middle class mindset of persecution and Christian faith. Middle class is not the norm, and perseverance and longing for the kingdom are! People who remind Western Christians of such things (such as 13:3) are immensely important.
@geoffc, great thoughts mate!
Even though persecution is promised for Christians following Jesus, the reality that our brothers and sisters are being brutally killed should make us angry! We should long for Jesus’ return and the final victory over all evil and injustice as everything is brought under Christ.
The Bible also clearly teaches that we should work for justice for the oppressed, freedom for the prisoners, release for the captives, etc.
But many of us, when we hear the reality of persecution, just automatically throw it in the poverty/justice pile. At Thirteen Three, we want to challenge that. We want to see youth deeply consider God’s Word and see that the issue of persecution is more closely linked to discipleship/mission than caring for the poor.
My prayer is that by connecting with our persecuted family, Australian Christians will consider the cost of discipleship and give their lives to make Christ known in their local communities and to the ends of the earth.
What do you think?
Brad | Thirteen Three
I think it is fantastic.
But because, as you say, “We should long for Jesus’ return and the final victory over all evil and injustice as everything is brought under Christ”, I would want to tweak point 4 a little.
Thanks for your encouragement @geoffc!
I think it is a both/and rather than an either/or: yes persecution is a reality of following Jesus, yes we work to support and alleviate the suffering of our Christian family. My argument is that many focus on the latter, while neglecting the former.
I try and clarify this in “A Final Word”:
We also don’t want to be fatalistic, “Oh, persecution is going to happen. There’s nothing we can do about it.” It is right that persecution makes us angry, and that it drives us to prayer and action on behalf of our persecuted family. It is right that we work to support them and care for them in their suffering and need.
At Thirteen Three, we want to see youth understand the dynamics of persecution/joy/hope and that persecution is to be expected for every generation of Christians and our call is for the unity and perseverance of the saints in the work of the Gospel.
Thoughts?
thanks geoff and brad. nothing to add. good discussion. love you both!