3 Lessons From the Persecuted Church

This Fall, I have been developing a love for the persecuted church, especially after reading through Nik Ripken's The Insanity of God (which I would highly commend). We don't particularly like to talk about the persecuted church because our culture is a culture where comfort is king. But the persecuted church is the north star for Christian thought; it is ever before us, anchoring our heavenly citizenship to this earthly place. It reminds us that we are not home yet, and there is much work to be done. To know about, to think of, and to pray for the persecuted church is a necessary Christian discipline. When sit under the persecuted church, we are tapping into the Great Tradition, that torrential river of the thundering faith of the Church from all times and all places. The Persecuted Church teaches us, and disciples us in the way of Christ. Here are some of the things I've learned from the Persecuted Church.

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1. Suffering is our inheritance. The vast majority of Christians from time and space suffered for their faith. Before every Olympic Games, there is a relay, where runners from across the world pass a torch on to each other. The torch that is passed on to us by the successive generations of our faith is the torch of suffering. It has been handed on from one generation to the next. A comfortable Christian life is a blip on the radar screen; it is abnormal, irregular, misshapen, and oblong. It is not normative. We may thank the Lord for it, but it is an outlier. We think of the 21 Coptic Christians in Lybia, escorted down the rolling beaches of the Mediterranean and slaughtered by those who hate the cause of Christ. This "would be propaganda" has only served to fuel the passion for Christ in the hearts and minds of those who suffer for the gospel. These are our compatriots. These are our brothers. They are our co-inheritors, waiting for us in the throneroom of the lamb even now.
2. Suffering gives us a greater experience of the cross. It is no mistake that the most saintly figures of the faith are men who, like Paul, suffered the loss of all things to be found in Christ (Phil 3:7-8). Martin Luther was threatened, excommunicated, and had a bounty on his head. John Calvin was removed by his church, lost his wife and his son, and was maligned (despite publishing what is still today one of the best-selling systematic theologies of his time). Tyndale was beheaded. Ridley and Latimer were burned at the stake. Perpetua was mauled by wild animals. Augustine died under siege. Zwingli was killed in war. Edwards was excommunicated by his congregation. Bonhoeffer was hung with a piano wire. To truly know the width and the breadth and the heighth and the depths of Christ's love for us, we must understand what it means to die to self. It is no mistake that Christ consistently called his followers to pick up their cross to follow him. Where there is no cross, there is no Christ. If you would be a giant like these, embrace the cross.
3. Suffering commends Christ. Suffering in general, but persecution in particular, commends Christ. There is something about seeing the suffering of the saints that makes the worthiness of the gospel shine. It is not as if the suffering of the church makes Christ more worthy, but reveals the worthiness that is already there in his nail tiered palms. In suffering, the external scaffolding of life falls away and what is true and genuine beneath it shows through. Consistently, the best of the Christian faith is showcased under the harshest of conditions. When Christians suffer, we are telling a story about our faith. Is our faith worth it? Is our faith lasting? True, Christians have occasionally answered those questions in the negative. But, taken as a whole, across time and space, the suffering of Christians and the manner of that same suffering provides us a resounding answer of "Yes!" It is an interesting fact, that the suffering of Christians is even admired by unbelievers. In 2018, one group in particular, the Coptic Christians, were honored as nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. When the world looks and sees the suffering of the saints, they cannot help but admire their Savior.