S.M. Wibberley’s Blog

At least once each month, I give a sermon to some congregation in Pakistan via whatsapp. My partner there, Imitaz, translates for me.

As you may know, Christians there suffer great persecution: beatings, martyrdom, loss of homes, jobs, churches and pastors. The attempt to force them to return to the major religion includes torture, rape, imprisonment and sometimes death. Yet most stand firm.

To encourage them I gave a sermon called, “Is it worth it to be a Christian, especially in the face of persecution?” It gives 45 reasons for clinging to our faith in the face of fanatical pressure. Today I will share some of those reasons with you, and more tomorrow.

The contrast: what we were:

1. We were condemned criminals, trapped in the dominion of darkness

2. We were destined to spend eternity in Hell, far from all good.

3. We had no possibility of escape,

4. There was no meaning, no purpose, no hope and no future.

What we have: reasons to be grateful to be Christians, many of these reasons are found in Ephesians

Note that these Reasons are not found in any other religion or philosophy

1. A Genuine, powerful Savior Eph 1:3,

2. Unlimited blessings Eph 1:3

3. Being chosen before we were born Eph 1:4

4. Being Holy and blameless in his sight Eph 1:4b fully forgiven

5. Being a beloved child of God Eph 1:5

6. God is pleased to have us as his children Eph 1:5b

7. He has given us his grace, ie. giving us the opposite of what we deserve Eph 1:5c

8. We have True forgiveness of our sins, all spiritual debts paid in full. Eph 1:7

9. We have Holy Spirit living in us. Eph 1:13

10. We have the certainty of eternal life Eph 1:14

11. We have belonging, worth, competence, Eph 1:18-19

12. We have an all powerful Savior Eph 1:19b-23

13. We have New life in Christ Eph 2:4,5

14. We have purpose, Eph 2:10

15. We have a certain future Eph 2:6

Picture: the immeasurable riches we have in Christ are better than gold!

Continuing from yesterday’s post, here is an example from Fox’s “Book of Martyrs.” Here was a man who demonstrated a courage and trust that allowed him to take up the grace of God and to die praising Him while praying for those who condemned them.

“When Mr. Hawkes was led to the fatal spot, he patiently prepared himself for the fire, and was bound to the stake by a strong chain, cast about his waist. Having promised his friends to show a disregard of pain, he agreed that, God helping him, he would, during his agonies, lift up his hands above his head towards heaven.

“After the noble man had been some time in the fire, his speech was lost, his skin thoroughly shriveled, his fingers burnt away to black stumps–yet mindful of his promise, he suddenly stretched forth his burning hands over his head and struck, or clapped them three times together; then sinking down in the fire, he gave up his spirit, June 10th, 1555.” (Foxes’ Book of Martyrs).

As horrendous as this is, let it be an encouragement to us of how we should and could endure in persecution. fMrf. Hawkes and the others died because they refused to recant their belief in Jesus and His  Word. “We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name” (Ps. 33:20,21).

 

Prayer: “Lord, I must confess that I know nothing of real suffering. Help me to praise you in the midst of the discomforts of this day so that I may be prepared to endure with grace whatever true suffering may come later. May I give you glory in all that comes. Amen.”

“…those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”  1 Peter 4:19

For the last few weeks I’ve been reading Foxes Book of Martyrs, a most challenging book. It has certainly expanded my understanding of what suffering encompasses. The persecution of believers, starting shortly after the beginning of the church, and continuing right up to the present, is one long demonstration of the power of God in the lives of ordinary people.

In our age, the idea that God will protect us from evil is interpreted to mean that He will somehow remove from our lives all that makes us uncomfortable. Much of what we would label as persecution in our own lives is really discomfort or harassment, (even including most of what we personally are experiencing here in the Middle East).

Biblical definitions are different than this. Evil is what will harm us spiritually. Suffering is what can make us grow spiritually. The vast majority of martyrs recorded in Foxes’ book were killed for their stand on the Word of God as their authority; they rejected the additions and alterations to Scripture the church had made, and therefore were cruelly killed as heretics. They, almost to a person, demonstrated a courage and trust that allowed them to take up the grace of God and to die praising Him while praying for those who condemned them. How would we respond if put in such a position? These people are a real inspiration and model for us.  In tomorrow’s post I will give you one example from Foxes’ book.

More on “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2).

 

You  “Who heals all your diseases…” (Ps. 103:2b). You are the great Physician, the Maker of our bodies. You know just how to heal what you have created, even we creatures who are warped and twisted by sin. You heal some diseases now, some after teaching us, shaping us and changing us, and some you will heal at death. In your wisdom you do what is best.

“Who redeems your life from destruction…” (Ps. 103:4a). We lived in destruction, under the power of the destroyer, heading towards eternal devastation, existing only in the living death of time without you, Lord. But you bought us; you snatched us off the disassembly line moving inexorably towards the pit; you translated us into the light of your Kingdom and made us your beloved, cherished children.

“Who crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies.” You are so kind, so lavishly loving, so gracious to us.

Your gifts are many, multiple, magnificent, and marvelous. You are the God of promise, persistence and provision. We lift up your name in praise for your gorgeous heart, your glorious love, your great and good gifts. You alone are worthy of worship, all through today and every day.

 

Prayer: “May you be glorified in my life today as I live consciously in this lavish love of yours, O Lord God Almighty. Amen.”

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”  Psalm 103:1 NKJV

You, King Jesus, the mighty Ruler, administer a Kingdom of light where blessings flow all the time. You are the One who is to be praised! Without reservation, all of my being praises you, for you are worthy of total submission, absolute surrender and whole-hearted service: you are grandly good, purely positive and persistently patient. Every part of me – my mind, my will, my emotions, my spirit and my body – rejoices in you, exalts you, extols you, exults in you. You are worthy of this and far more.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2). You are to be praised and lifted up for your goodness shown in how you poured out your gifts upon your enemies: you have given us eternal life, eternal comfort, eternal provision, eternal presence, eternal joy.

“Who forgives all your iniquities” (Ps. 103:3a); there is not one unforgiven sin left in our lives—you took all our guilt, all our shame, all our condemnation, our full record of wrongs, and nullified their power to condemn us. Forgiveness sets us free, separates us from sin, superimposes your righteousness on our record. We stand in your righteousness before the great Judge who declares, “You are forgiven, enter into my joy!” What more could we want?

The second question the author of Search for Significance asked was:: “Are you a ‘have to’ person or a ‘want to’ person?” If I can grasp my significance in Christ and rest in that, then I will “want to” do those things which are pleasing to Him, not “have to” do them in a legalistic, self-saving way.

This is part of the freedom of the abundant life Christ is calling us to: knowing who we are and, as a result, acting in obedience to Him for the right motives rather than just to make ourselves feel good. There are several very important consequences that flow from this.

First, instead of being pushed by the inner drive for gaining significance through getting this or that done, we can listen more quietly to what the Lord wants us to do.
Second, we can be more willing to do the unpleasant but necessary things that do not bring us any sense of significance.

Third, since we do less, (having eliminated the unnecessary, “have to” things) there is more time to do well the things God has for us.

Fourth, flexibility, grace and kindness can replace the harried, nervous, pressured attitude of the “have to” Christian.

These things I am learning. It reminds me that my walk with Christ is one long and wonderful process of growth, deepening and transformation. And we can constantly praise God for His wonderful, unending patience with us in it.

Prayer: “Lord, help me to regularly check my motives before you so I can deepen my rest in the significance you have given. Help me to be a “want to” believer, not a “have to” one. May I love you through obeying your Truth. Amen.”

“My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” Psalm 62:7

 

Our team has been working through a book called Search for Significance by Robert McGee (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003). After establishing that our foundational significance comes from God (being made in His image, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, chosen before the foundation of the world, and adopted as a child of the King), the author asks two questions.

First, “What do I have to do in order to feel good about myself?” This points us to where we actually draw our significance. If we are resting in the Truth of our being Sons and Daughters of the King, we don’t need to add anything to “feel good” about ourselves. Our true source of stability, significance and “feeling good” is not what we do, but who we are in Christ.

God does want us to have satisfaction in a job well done, pleasure in doing what is right and joy in good relationships, but none of these are the source of the significance and worth that flow through a correct understanding of who we are.

As I honestly evaluated this, it became clear that there are a lot of items on my “to do list” which are there so I can feel good about myself; that is, my motive in doing them is wrong. These are things like: get up early, have a good quiet time, pray through my list, don’t eat too much, exercise enough, and be nice to everyone around me. All of these are good things, many of which I am responsible to do, but they are not to be the source of my significance, stability or sense of goodness. I must switch my motive from doing these to feel good, to doing them because I love the Lord and want to obey and please Him.

My wrong motives point to the disparity between intellectually grasping a truth and the deep implementation of it in one’s life. The way out of this is to be aware of the tendency to look for significance in the wrong areas and to counter it with Truth. Memorizing verses that give God’s viewpoint, such as, “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” (Col 3:12), and “Chosen before the foundation of the world, accepted in the beloved…” (Eph. 1:4)—then  meditating on them, certainly helps to internalize it. When trying to decide what to do, examining my motives and rejecting the wrong ones also helps

“… you, Lord, remain the same, and your years will never end” (Ps. 102:27). Yes, Lord God, in contrast to the temporariness of all in time, you, who are outside of time, are permanent, eternal, unending, unchanging, uncurtailed in your existence.

As you were before time began, so you will be after time ends: the perfect and pure paragon of all that is positive. In you there is no alteration, no shifting, no deterioration, no development, no growth, no vacillation–for you are already perfect.

We rejoice in your eternalness, in your enduring through all generations, in your permanency. You are the only stable, unchanging, certain thing in all of creation, in all of time, in all of existence. And you have made yourself our Rock, our Fortress, our Defender.

We glorify you, we rejoice in you, we exalt you, we lift you up. Our eyes are on you as we turn away from the things of this world to be enthralled with your dazzling beauty. It is true, as Asaph wrote in Psalm 73, that when we gaze upon you in worship, we must say, “Whom have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire besides you.” As we worship you, learn of you, are drawn to you, what we have and don’t have matters less and less, for you are our all in all. Glory be to your name.

 

Prayer: “Lord God, great Creator and Sustainer, help me today to live in your light, to value and obey your Word, to live for eternity. May your Spirit guide me in making wise and glory-giving decisions. May you be exalted in my life today! Amen.”

“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Psalm 102:25

 

You, O Mighty God, are the Beginner and Ender of history.

You formed the earth and hung it on nothing.

You breathed the stars, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies, the farthest reaches of space.

They all belong to you and at the right time you will bring them to an end:

“They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded” (Ps. 102:26).

It is hard to think of this great, expansive, majestic, far flung creation ending.

Yet, it is not permanent, for it is a part of time: as it had a beginning,

so it will have an end, an end brought about by you, Lord.

The heavens and earth will come to the conclusion of their purpose and usefulness;

they will “wear out” and you will remove them. All we know is temporary. Only you, Lord God, are timeless.

In your great scheme, you have something else in store to replace them, something perfect, untainted, untwisted by sin.

You have a proposal, a plan, a purpose: a pure and pristine new Heaven and Earth,

far beyond what any man could imagine in beauty, in greatness, in perfection—incorruptible and eternal.

And, because of your plan, there is hope for

and end to sin,

justice for evil done

rewards for obedience to you.

In these we can rest, rejoice and be refreshed.

Help us to have this eternal perspective

To remember this hope we have in heaven

so that faith and love may flow from it continually.

More on what God taught me in answering my prayers with wisdom

Second, the Lord combined this frustration with 2 Corinthians 12:9, “… he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” With this, the lights came on. If I am content with my own efforts, growth and accomplishments, I will rely on myself.

However, when God lets His children see more clearly the weakness, failure and sin of our natural side, then we can turn away from ourselves to Him and know Him better. We can embrace this truth of our inadequacy in ourselves, confess our self-reliance, receive forgiveness and revel in His love, saying with Paul, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12:9b).

God has wanted to use the happenings of 9/11 in this way, I believe, for all of America: suddenly our weakness, our vulnerability was revealed and with that, how much we senselessly have depended on our own strength, cleverness and goodness to protect us from evil. May we turn to God in a new way, realizing our need for Him, and find new strength, new insight, new freedom to serve Him.

 

Prayer: “We pray, God, that you will give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might know you better, not for our own comfort and advantage, but that you might further transform us so we can be more useful for you in what you plan to do in and through our lives. Amen.”