"DOWN, BUT NOT OUT"
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23)
October 13, 2019
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the Offspring of David, as preached in my Gospel, for which I am suffering, bound in chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound.
2 Timothy 2:8, 9 (ESV)
Those of you who know me know that I am rather cynical about many of the so-called "principles" dictated to us by various Church Growth experts, but even I will concede that at least one observation that many of them have made is undeniably accurate: The society that we live in today, in its attitude toward Christianity, is a lot more like the society of the earliest Christians than it is like the society that most of us grew up in. Most of us grew up at a time when being a Christian was considered to be respectable. People in general saw Christians as people who lived their lives according to sound moral principles and did everything that they could to help others, particular those who were in desperate need. Businesses and those who scheduled recreational activities respectfully avoided Sunday mornings to accommodate public worship. You might even go so far as to say that being a practicing Christian was popular back then. I remember one retired pastor I once knew telling me: "Back in the fifties you would built a new church and it was immediately filled, just because you let people in."
I don't think I need to argue much to make the case that that's not the way things are today. Today, by and large, you are not respected for being a Christian; you are ridiculed for it. In today's world you are forced to choose not between good and evil but between Christ and a host of other "good" things that compete with Him for your time and commitment. If you are at all serious about your faith, you will not be seen as someone who loves others and desires the good of all. Instead, you will be seen as someone who is hopelessly behind the times--someone who will stop at nothing in order to force his or her outdated religious and moral ideas on the entire nation. When we think about the persecution of Christians, the image that usually comes to mind is the early Christians in the arena or perhaps the Christians in Eastern Europe during the days of Nazi and Communist domination, but in reality there is persecution of Christians even today--right here in the "good ole U. S. A." It may be subtler perhaps, but it's there nevertheless. This morning let's meditate on the words of Saint Paul in today's Epistle to gain encouragement and hope from what the apostle says about the suffering of God's people and the freedom of the Gospel.
In the passage before us the apostle Paul makes it clear that he himself is to be counted among the people of God who are suffering for their faith. After referring to the essentials of the Gospel message, he writes about "my Gospel, for which I am suffering." This suffering is not something for a believer to be ashamed of; it is instead a badge of honor. But we must be sure we understand that what is spoken of here is actual persecution for the faith. If people dislike us and we suffer as a result, we have to carefully and honestly look at why it is that they dislike us. Is it really the Gospel of Christ that they are opposed to or is it just our personality? Do people dislike us and work against us because of our faith in Christ or is it perhaps because we are obnoxious? When Jesus speaks about "tak[ing] up [our] cross and follow[ing Him]" (Matthew 16:24) and when Scripture speaks highly of those who suffer for the faith, what is being referred to is people who are suffering expressly because they are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul describes the specific nature of his suffering in a greater detail when he says that he is suffering "bound in chains as a criminal." You know, one of the problems with living in a world infected by sin is that everything gets all turned around. What is good comes to be looked at as being bad while what is bad becomes a virtue. And you don't have to look very far at all to see evidence of this in our world today. If you are willing to water down the Gospel of Christ in order to make it more compatible with the values of this world, you might be tolerated, but if you faithfully believe, teach, and confess the truth as it has been revealed in God's Word, rest assured that you will be portrayed as "the bad guy." If you dare to say that Jesus Christ is the only Savior from sin and that all other religions are false, then you, my friend, are intolerant and are guilty of hate speech--and it's not at all out of the question that within our lifetime this may be an offense that can and will be prosecuted in the courts. That's all that Paul and others like him did to become "bound in chains as . . . criminal[s]" and later to suffer martyrdom. Can we expect any better treatment than they received?
Gloomy as all of this may seem, the point that Paul makes in the text (and it is an extremely important point) is that no matter how suppressed and persecuted the people of God may be, the Gospel that they proclaim--the Gospel of Jesus Christ--is and will always remain free. The apostle encourages those who are persecuted because of the Gospel to "remember Jesus Christ." He is the One who has set the pattern for us--the One who has gone before us in being persecuted so that we might have the motivation and the strength to endure persecution as well--the One who has won the ultimate victory for us. It is not a personal victory for us but rather the victory of the Gospel of Christ, which "is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).
The apostle asserts that "God's Word is not bound." The Gospel continues to be preached and to bring the light of salvation into this world of darkness and sin despite the best efforts of those who want to suppress it. In fact, if you take a look at the history of the Christian Church, you will find that persecution accelerates rather than hampers the spread of the Gospel. The Church grew the most (even numerically) during its first three centuries, when both the Jewish religious establishment and the pagan government were committed to its obliteration. Even in our own day we can see that the Gospel is most zealously preached and most enthusiastically received where? --in African nations, where the persecution of Christians is rampant. There is a lesson to be learned here: Just as the body of Jesus could not be contained in the sealed tomb in Joseph's garden, the message of forgiveness and everlasting life in His name cannot be suppressed by the persecution of those who proclaim it.
It's very easy for us as Christians to become discouraged in this world of ours--particularly as we go about the task of sharing with others the Good News of forgiveness and everlasting life through the grace revealed in Jesus Christ. There is so much that we are up against--so much that works in opposition to the mission that our Savior has given us. But the One who has called and commissioned us to be His witnesses in the world is the One who also promises to be "with [us] always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20) in the power of His Holy Spirit. His promise is sure--as sure as His resurrection from the dead. Though we may suffer in the process, His Gospel will prevail, giving us the final victory over all things and bringing salvation to all who receive it in faith.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.