Evangelism: the Path to Suffering

Mark 13:1-32

One of my favorite cartoons has its character walking down the street and he sees a man with a message printed on a board hung around his neck. The message reads “Repent for the end is near!” The character rushes into an ice cream store and orders, “Give me a double hot fudge sundae with everything on it and hurry.”

There are two extremes people fall into about the end times. There are those who focus so much on the end times that they lose touch with life. The followers of William Miller in the middle nineteenth century or Moses of Crete in 440 AD are examples of this that I mentioned last week. In both cases, people gave up their jobs, abandoned the world and waited for the world to end, which it obviously did not.

A second extreme is to pay no attention to it whatsoever. The book of Genesis tells the story of Noah building a boat that would be the only means of salvation from the flood that was coming and listen to how Jesus said people reacted:
People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.  29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

Some pay no attention to what is coming and are unprepared and others pay too much attention and miss out on how God wants us to live. There is a middle ground. St. Francis of Assisi was asked what he would do if he knew Jesus was going to return tomorrow. “Plant a tree today,” was his response. That seems much closer to the teaching of Jesus than the two extremes.

I preached from this same passage last week. If you were not here and want to know what I said, you can either get the sermon from our church website (printed in the bulletin) or you can fill out a pew card and ask me to send it to you.

To make a map of this teaching of Jesus would show many different paths. There is a lot being said and there are many themes to follow. This morning I want to take a path that will begin with evangelism, move to persecution and lead to sharing in the suffering of Christ.

Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, looking down over the Kidron Valley at Jerusalem. The bright spot in the city was the Temple, beautiful with its massive white stones and gold trim. Jesus had told his disciples that this beautiful temple would be destroyed, that not one stone would be left on another. This was shocking news and so they asked Jesus what he meant by this.
Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?

Jesus began his response by warning his disciples, and all who in time to come would be his disciples, to be vigilant because there would be many who would try to deceive them. He spoke of wars and earthquakes and famines as events that would occur before his prediction would be realized and told his disciples not to be alarmed by them.

And then in verse 10, in the midst of talking about persecution, Jesus said:
And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

What does this verse mean? Last week I talked about wars, earthquakes, famines and other natural disasters as constants throughout history. These disastrous events are not indications that the end times have arrived, but as constants in history, they remind us that the end is coming. Persecution is also a constant in history. We are not to be alarmed when these events happen. God is still in control and we continue to trust in him to bring us safely to himself at the end.

Wars, natural disasters and persecution are constants in history but evangelism is a prerequisite. Wars, natural disasters and persecution will happen but evangelism must happen before the end comes.

And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. The word translated nations is ????. This can be translated as nations, countries with politically drawn boundaries, or as ethno-linguistic peoples. This divides up people in the world by the language they speak and the culture they share. This is how I believe we need to read this verse. In reaching the world for Christ, believers should take the good news of Jesus Christ to unreached ethno-linguistic peoples.

One of the reasons for taking this translation is that the Bible tells us that people from every ethno-linguistic group will be in heaven. John wrote in Revelation 7:9:
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

In this teaching of Jesus, as with most prophecy, there is a short-term and long-term fulfillment.

When Peter preached his first sermon at Pentecost, Jews from around the Roman Empire were present and they took the message of Jesus with them when they returned to their homes. After this dynamic start, the disciples and Paul took the gospel to these countries around the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.

In the short-term, if all the world was meant to be the Roman world, the gospel had already reached the extent of the Roman world by the time the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.

In the long-term fulfillment of this prophecy, we are getting ever closer to the reality of it being fulfilled.

In 1600, the Scriptures were printed in 36 languages. One hundred years later they were available in 52 languages and by 1800, there were Bibles in 67 languages. The next hundred years there was an eightfold increase and by 1900 Scriptures were printed in 537 languages. In the last one hundred years the availability of Bibles in other languages exploded and by 2000 they were available in 2800 languages.

In 1999, Ralph Winter presented a paper at the Kyoto, Japan international conference, “The Role of Western Missions in the 21st Century.” He wrote:
The long standing and indeed illustrious campaign to take Western Christianity to the world’s minority groups is slowing down because fewer and fewer such groups remain untouched. One of the miracles of the 20th century–which forever changes the focus of missions for the 21st–is the fact that the Western missions have been so successful in transforming dark mission fields into bright mission sending forces … the fact is we are running out of “traditional mission fields.” There aren’t many left.

Evangelism is the call of Christians and although we might despair at the quality of the church in the world, there is no disputing that it is growing and expanding.

Today with a world population of 6,000,000,000 there are 720,000,000 Bible believing Christians. At the time of Jesus there was 1 follower of Jesus for every 250,000 people in the world. Today there is 1 follower of Jesus for every 8 people in the world.

Pentecostals, charismatics and evangelicals are together the fastest growing group of all world religions. They are growing at a rate of 3 ½ times the growth of the world’s population.

Let me digress for a minute and step off the path. We do not need to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done because although the church is growing in numbers, it is not growing in depth. At a 1999 conference in England, John Stott summed up the sentiment of many participants when he said:
the Christian situation is strange, tragic, and possessing a disturbing paradox. In some places the church is growing strongly, but even there the problem is that of growth without depth. In short, the church lacks proper discipleship.

A joint statement crafted during the consultation acknowledges that “our zeal to go wider has not been matched by a commitment to go deeper.”

We cannot stop our efforts to be obedient to Christ and be his evangelists. There are still people who have not heard and who do not have a church available so they can hear. And the church that exists needs desperately to be strengthened and have its roots go deeper into Christ. In this 22nd century, there is no place in the world that is not a mission field.

And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

The good news is that we are moving toward the fulfillment of this prerequisite to the approaching end.

I said we were following a path that would take us from evangelism to persecution. How is this connected?

Notice where verse 10 is situated.
“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.  10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.  11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Why is it that in the midst of this prediction that his disciples would be persecuted that he said,  And the gospel must first be preached to all nations? Verses 9 and 11-12 talk about persecution. What is evangelism doing in the middle?

If Christians would just keep their experience to themselves, there would not be a problem. I heard many times from my parents, when I was growing up, that it was not good to “wear your religion on your sleeve.” Religion was meant to be private not public. Go to church, read your Bible if you must, pray when you need to but it is not necessary to talk to other people about your own private religious views.

But that is not how Christians are to live. Jesus taught us to let our light shine on a hill so all could see. His last words were for us to evangelize, share our faith with not just our family and neighbors, but with all the world.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Although there are times when it is best to let our actions evangelize for us, for most of us for most of the time, it is an act of disobedience when we keep our faith to ourselves.

We evangelize out of obedience to Christ and that causes us to be persecuted. Let me explain the connection between evangelism and persecution.

It is not so bad when you become a Christian and your life changes. There is a bit of disruption but the persecution that develops is rather minor. Let’s say you were part of a group that partied a lot. But now you no longer get drunk and you are no longer sexually promiscuous. This creates distance between you and your friends. Deep down there is an understanding that this behavior is not good and your refusal to participate with them as you used to do is an implicit criticism of their behavior and so they become irritated with you.

The problem is exasperated, becomes worse, because it is not enough that you have changed. Because you care about the people you know, you talk to them and try to reason with them why they also should change and turn to Christ.

In religious society the dynamic is a bit different. A religious system is established and everyone goes together to pray. Everyone celebrates the religious holidays at the same time and then a member of the community becomes a Christian. All of a sudden, not everyone is praying together. Not everyone fasts. Not everyone kills a sheep for the religious holiday. And the consequence is that the social order is disturbed.

Someone becomes a Christian and begins to challenge what has been taught and believed and the possibility that what has been practiced and believed might be wrong. “Do you mean to say that what I have been doing all my life has been meaningless?”

As the group of Christians grows, whether it is in a religious or secular society, it is not just one set of friends who are offended, now it is a larger community that feels judged and threatened.

It is not because Christians gather to read their Bibles and sing songs and pray that they are persecuted, it is because they no longer participate with the rest of society in the culturally accepted forms of behavior.

People are aware that Christians meet but don’t know what it is they do there. And so rumors begin to spread. The early Christians were accused of Oedipal sex, having sex with their parents, cannibalism which resulted from a literal reading of John when Jesus talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, nightly orgies and so on.

In the sensationalist newspapers here in Morocco, articles have appeared about the Village of Hope. One of them described it as being surrounded by high security walls with barbed wire and security cameras, like a CIA, US military compound.

People do not understand what is happening and so rumors and false accusations are made to attack what they do not understand.

As the church grows and the behavior of Christians changes, the economic and power structures are threatened. When the apostle Paul walked into a city, he came to a city where there were established leaders who were respected and wealthy. The leaders of the synagogue had learned to work hand-in-hand with the business community. Everyone had their place and there was an order to the community.

Then Paul came in and challenged the understanding of the Jewish leaders. Some in the community began to follow Paul and this created a tension in the city. The Jewish leaders kicked Paul out of the synagogue and he began to preach on the streets. The crowds around him grew and the city leaders saw their order threatened.

Offerings to the synagogue declined. Offerings to the Roman temple declined. Businessmen who made their money from making ornaments for the gods saw their business threatened and so Paul was persecuted.

Pliny the Younger in the beginning of the 2nd century persecuted the church because the growth of the church had caused Roman temples to be deserted and offerings had drastically declined.

None of this would have happened if the church would have followed my parents’ advice. “Keep your religious beliefs to yourself.” But Christians have this annoying habit of telling others what they have experienced. Christians love others in the name of Jesus and then people ask, “Why are you caring for me this way?” And then Christians have the audacity to answer the question.

We evangelize because we are instructed by Jesus to do so and because what we have experienced is impossible to keep to ourselves. Earlier in Mark we talked about the man Jesus cured of his leprosy. Jesus told him not to tell anyone what had happened but instead the man went out and told everyone he found about what had happened. How do you keep to yourself the wonder that Jesus has brought into your life?

Evangelism leads to persecution and then persecution leads to sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.

All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

On account of me. All men will hate you because of me.

Evangelism exposes us to the rejection Jesus faced.

In Acts 5, the Sanhedrin had the apostles brought before them. The high priest and his associates were jealous of the crowds that were attracted to the apostles because of the healings taking place.
They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

The early church understood that when they were being beaten, it was Christ who was being beaten and they had the privilege of taking the beating for him.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

Remember Saul’s conversion? He was on his way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus when Jesus appeared to him.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Saul, who we know by his Greek name, Paul, was persecuting the followers of Jesus but Jesus made him aware that it was he himself who was being persecuted.

Evangelism leads to persecution which leads to sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

You might have noticed that the bulletin this morning is sprinkled with quotes from Jim Elliot. Jim Elliot was a missionary to the Auca Indians of Ecuador and was martyred in the jungle of Ecuador in 1956 at the age of 28. His widow, Elizabeth Elliot, took his journals and wrote Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot. The quotes in the bulletin come from that book.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.

Jim Elliot is an inspiration to me and whenever I have read about him I have experienced conviction that I value living a long, comfortable life more than living for Jesus.

I cannot keep this life and so it is wise to give up this life for eternity which I cannot lose. I know that but I struggle to live as I know I should live. I am challenged again and again to surrender to God and to give him all of my life without reservations.

How much do you love life? I hope that you have a great love for life that allows you to delight in the glories of nature and in the wonder of the beautiful buildings man, using the gifts God gave, is able to construct. I hope that you are able to delight in good novels and poems, art and music. I hope that you are able to celebrate the wonder of birth and of relationships, friendships and marriage. I hope that you love life.

But I wish for you that you love God even more than you love life. I wish for you that you will be able to surrender to God and love him more than this life.

There will come a day when you will stand before God in heaven and when you stand there, you will have to make account for how you used your life. Yes, it is true that you will be saved by the blood of Jesus, but if not for the blood of Jesus, it would be impossible for you to stand in the presence of God at all. And when you stand there, how much will you regret?

When you stand there, it will seem so foolish to you how you resisted the urge to share your faith with someone because you were worried about what they would think. It will seem so foolish to you how you resisted being a witness for Jesus because you were worried what the authorities might do to you.

I urge you this morning to take up the responsibility Jesus gave you to be his witness to the world. Maybe you will suffer because you share your faith. Are you willing to pay the price for being Jesus’ evangelist?

If you are persecuted for sharing your faith, let me ask you this. If you had been present when Jesus was being flogged with the 40 lashes minus one, 13 on his chest and 26 on his back, and it were possible for you to step forward and take one of those lashes on your own flesh, would you be willing to do that?

To love persecution and long to be beaten is masochistic. That is not a healthy desire. But if and when that time comes that you have to suffer, if you give yourself to Jesus, he will give you the grace to endure and share in his sufferings. As Peter wrote in his letter to persecuted Christians
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

When Jesus taught on the Mount of Olives about the end times, he warned of persecution to come but he said several times in his teaching, do not be alarmed, do not worry.

I believe a time of persecution is coming but you do not need to be worried or anxious about what is to come.

Let me end this sermon as I ended the last one. Imagine yourself sitting with Jesus on the Mount of Olives as he teaches on the end times. He knows you. He loves you. He knows your future. He knows all that you will experience and he tells you not to worry, not to be alarmed. He will bring you safely to the end. So trust him. Give yourself fully to him. Listen to him speak these words from Isaiah to you:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;