This is persecution . . .

If you're not familiar with the ongoing story of Pastor Saeed Abedini go read these links:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57566124/u.s-pastor-sentenced-to-8-years-in-iran/

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/28/inside-evin-look-at-world-most-notorious-political-prison/

This is the kind of persecution Jesus told us that we could expect when we lived for him.  

Christians in America have very little idea of how easy it really is to be a Christian in America.  

Despite a cultural hostility towards Biblical Christianity (and here's a prime, recent example) and a Presidential Administration and Judiciary that is hostile towards Biblical Christianity and is stripping away the First Amendment rights of individual business owners and Christian businesses (here's a prime, recent example) ; we do not know what real persecution is.

Pastor Saeed Abedini, and his family, know all too well what real persecution is.  Persecution is not an academic discussion for them.  What if you were in a situation like Pastor Saeed, and your only hope was the words that Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:10-12?  

Would you still go to church on Sunday mornings?  Would you still go to a Bible Study or a Small Group?  Would you still post about how much you love Jesus on Facebook?  If you knew that a tortuous, 8 year prison sentence awaited you?

In today's reading in Matthew 11, we find a man who loved Jesus in a similar situation.  John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, came before Jesus preaching about repentance the Kingdom of Heaven.  For his zeal and his passion for Jesus, he was imprisoned.  

Here's what Jesus said about the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in v.12:
"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."

Being a follower of Jesus isn't a joke or a game.  It's not a hobby.  It's an all consuming, all-or-nothing, stake your life it on commitment.  Reading about Pastor Saeed and thinking about our cultural climate reminds me of this.  It's so easy to sit by and say nothing, and to feign shock and surprise at the decay and godlessness around us, while doing nothing.
It's easy, when "everybody else is doing it," to give in and give up and quit our pursuit of righteousness.  

Imagine if we faced jail or death for our faith.  I honestly don't know what I would do.  I think I know what I HOPE I would do.  And then I am reminded of how weak and immature my faith really is, when it can't stand up to trials and temptations that are far smaller and mundane than death and imprisonment.

So what do we do?

First of all, we pray.  

We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world for whom death and imprisonment are very real threats to their faith.  There is absolutely nothing like praying for somebody going through an extreme crisis or trial to bring you to a place of thankfulness and joy for what you have, and to help you realize the real pain and hardship that others endure for the sake of their faith.

Secondly, we fight.

"Wait a minute, Pastor Dave.  Wasn't Jesus all about turning the other cheek and loving our enemies?"  Yup.  But he was also about doing whatever it took to advance His Kingdom on earth.  Did you read verse 12?  "The Kingdom of God is FORCEFULLY advancing."  Our fight isn't with fists or guns or weapons.  Our fight is on our knees.  Our fight is with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  Our fight is with love.  I am reminded of what John the Apostle said about the coming of Jesus in John 1:14, "We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."  Jesus fought with grace and Jesus fought with truth.  

Finally, we focus on what matters.

The Apostle Paul, a man and a warrior for the Kingdom of God who was very familiar with REAL persecution wrote these words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  

I don't know much about Pastor Saeed, but I know that a man that is willing to risk his physical safety for the sake of the Gospel is a man who knows what it means to pray, fight and focus on what matters.  John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul too.  Any story in the New Testament about a man or a woman that changed the world with the Good News is the story of a man or woman who knew the power of these things!  My hope and prayer is that I would know this power too.