Making Him known

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, 

and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions 

for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 

of which I became a minister 

according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, 

to make the word of God fully known..."  Colossians 1:24-25

   The Lord Jesus Christ was the most kind, loving, compassionate, person to walk the face of this earth.  The sinless Son of God is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb. 1:3).  Yet people hated him then and they hate him now.  Why?  

   He was ridiculed, he was mocked, he was vehemently hated, spat upon, cruelly beaten and nailed to a cross.  Why such cruelty?  Because of the gospel.  

   What is the gospel?  The good news that God has sent his Son Jesus to pay for our sins.  The message of the free gift of grace extended to lost and dying sinful people.  Isn't it a wonderful message?  Why do people hate it's messengers so much?  Why do people hate the message?

   Paul, who wrote the letter to the Colossians, was imprisoned and beaten for making the word of God fully known.  He suffered for the sake of Christ (2 Corinthians 11: 25-27).  We may think that's fine for Paul, and thoughts of being so harshly treated seem so distant and foreign to us westerners.  Even today, across the world, Christ's people are severely afflicted.  They are imprisoned, beaten, tortured and killed for their faith in Christ.  It is happening today.  Yet still, this seems so far from our understanding.  So detached from our daily thinking.  

   The Bible tells us that indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).  Has this verse ever caused you to sit and think?  How am I persecuted?  You may call yourself a Christian, the question is, do you desire to live a godly life?  That is what causes the division.  You are either someone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus or you're not.  

   Persecution comes in different forms.  It is defined this way: to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve or afflict; to cause to suffer because of belief.  

   People will not always appreciate the good news that Christians want to share with them.  Being confronted with the gospel means being confronted with the authority of Christ.  It causes people to take serious look at their sin.  Sadly, many people want to continue thinking that they are just fine the way they are.  The gospel will require of them a change in the way they think and a change in the way they live.  It will require them to yield themselves to the authority of Christ.  Yes, there is forgiveness of sin, full and free, such wonderful forgiveness!  But a person must see the ugliness, the heinousness of their own sin before they can genuinely turn to Christ for the remedy.

   Going back to the verse above, how are we persecuted here in the United States of America?  Have you ever considered this?  Well, it may not be to the degree of suffering that Jesus or Paul experienced, and it may not be as harsh as the treatment that Christians across the lands are experiencing.  But have you ever not wanted to speak up about Christ because you're afraid people will think less of you?  Yes, people in this country look down on Christians.  Are you willing to endure that?  To be ridiculed, lowly esteemed by the world, maybe even considered to be a "religious fanatic" and narrow-minded.  Do you desire to live a godly life regardless of what other think or say?

   It's not easy is it?  Most of us desire to have people like us and think highly of us.  We want to be esteemed as intelligent, yet the world considers Christians utterly foolish.  We want people to think we are cool and we watch and listen to things that we ought not so that we can relate to them better.  Are we willing to suffer because we cannot talk about things that are shameful to speak of, and are we too ashamed to talk about Christ for fear we won't be accepted?

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the 

loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in him...that I may know him and the power of 

his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings"...Philippians 3:8-10

{see entire passage: Philippians 3: 1-16}

{Jesus said} "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they

exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account

of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, 

your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

Luke 6: 22-23

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but 

because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, 

therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you:

'A servant is not greater than his master'.  If they persecuted me, they 

will also persecute you."  John 15:18-20