This sermon about persecution mainly talks about Jesus’ wisdom on how do we response in times of persecution. Here’s the main outline:
Text: Luke 12:1-12
A. Fear the one who has authority to throw you to hell (Luke 12:5) “Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell”
B. Acknowledge him before others (Luke 12:8-9) “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.”
C. Do not worry how you will defend yourselves (Luke 12:11-12) “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
Challenge:
- It’s time to shift our focus. Fear God all the more than any other power or authorities may it be here on earth or in spiritual realms.
- There is nothing to be ashamed of being a Christian as long as you live like one, and as long as you have put your faith in the Lord.
- Allow the Holy Spirit to instill in your hearts God’s word and allow Him to teach you what to do when you face these challenges.
The Manuscript of this sermon:
The first example of trouble that we can find here in chapter 12 in the book of Luke is persecution. Persecution is very real. We are fortunate enough here in the Philippines because we live in a democratic country where all kinds of religion is accepted and we have the right to choose our own religion.
In this passage, we can see Jesus preaching to the crowd. And he warned them against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. If you read chapter 11, we can there that Jesus was invited by a Pharisee to eat. But the Pharisee full traditions noticed that Jesus did not washed his hands before the meal.
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[s2If current_user_is(s2member_level1) OR current_user_is(s2member_level2)]Instead of a good explanation, the Pharisee seemed to be insulted and rebuked by the Lord Jesus by what he is thinking. And this is just one of the reasons why the Pharisees are adamant and militant against the Lord Jesus and his disciples.
So this is a sort of a warning to the disciples of the upcoming events of what it is to come. So what are the things that Jesus said about persecution?
Fear the one who has authority to throw you to hell (Luke 12:5) “Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell”
In this world there are authorities above us. And in this particular context, the Pharisees are one of those authorities over the Jews at that time. In fact, they are one of the key people who have Jesus crucified. That’s how powerful they are during that time. But Jesus made it clear in his statement that if we are going to fear someone, it should be someone who has authority to throw us to hell.
Authorities are God’s instruments he is the one who establish such (Romans 13). We ought to submit to them. However on the other hand, it has to be clear that we are to fear God more than we fear men. No other authority is above God. Earthly authorities can only punish our earthly bodies, which is carnal, and temporary.
Yes we should be following earthly authorities as to the point of maintaining peace and order in our earthly communities. We should also recognize that it was God who established them to manage the general public. But when it comes to our faith, in our worship to God, we should be honoring God above all.
Throughout history, there has been governments around the world that became abusive in their power to the point of oppressing our religious liberty so as the faith. But fear God more than you fear men. Fear the one that has the authority to throw you into hell than the those that can kill your physical body.
Acknowledge him before others (Luke 12:8-9) “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.”
So what should it be when persecutions broke out and people will persecute you because of the name of the Lord? Luke 22:54-62, we can see Peter in the midst of the pressure of Jesus’ capture despite that he was closely following the Lord denies him when someone recognized him to be one of Jesus’ companion.
This epic fail of Peter has been his mark. In fact, apart from being known to be quoted as someone whom Jesus talked about establishing his church, he is marked with his denial of the Lord. Now we do not judge Peter in that sense for I am pretty sure most people in our time will probably do the same as Peter did. However, we should be learning from that lesson especially that the Lord Jesus is teaching us about standing in our faith to him.
We are not saying that we become illogical people. But when it comes to choosing our loyalty and obedience, I hope and pray that we will choose the Lord.
Do not worry how you will defend yourselves (Luke 12:11-12) “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
Jesus here is already giving a warning to his disciples that dragging them to church by those people who will persecute them is not far from happening. In fact, soon enough, these disciples will witness themselves how will the Lord suffer from the hands of those who do not believe in him.
These authorities may be questioning you about your faith. Perhaps accusing you of making trouble in your areas. Or perhaps accusing you of bringing false teachings. What the Lord Jesus was saying is that “do not worry… the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
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