Lately I’ve been thinking (and yes – it did hurt), Christians in this country are facing a threat the likes of which we have not seen in any of our lifetimes. We face a culture change around us that has begun the process of turning the Christian believer from the moral majority to the immoral minority. By this, I mean that the culture around us has changed from holding largely ‘christianised’ values and where Christians would be seen as generally good, we have gone through the process of cultural values shifting from this to be more liberal and progressive and Christians viewed as being weak ‘wet’ and generally old fashioned but otherwise harmless, to a situation now where Christian values are largely viewed as wrong and harmful to society. It is of genuine concern where this will lead next for those who seek to remain faithful to Christ. So, as we consider the future, we must ask the question of how to be equipped for persecution.
I have heard it said that when real and serious persecution hits Christians in this nation, 80% will capitulate and metamorphose their values to be slightly ‘christianised’ versions of the prevailing values in the culture around them, 10% will leave the country and the remaining 10% will stand firm. Now, these were never intended to be accurate statistics or predictions, more given to make a point. And it is a stark point. One that has genuinely got me thinking.
Because, as ever, we have three enemies. The world. The flesh. And the devil. And I am worried. The threat of the world is growing as a big, shouty, nefarious monster. Those who would argue to me that they understand the threat that is coming to the faithful believer seem fixated on this threat from the world. So much so that the threat from the flesh and the devil is all rolled into this one big ‘issue of the day’ in their thinking.
But ultimately what is the threat that Christians must guard against? What is it that Christians are to fear? Is it imbibing a false ideology from the cultural air we breathe? Maybe…this is certainly a part of it. Is it social and professional death as we find we can no longer live in the world and maintain our value structures? Perhaps…. Is it imprisonment or even death & martyrdom? That does sound scary….
The threat is apostasy. The threat is that we will abandon our faith in Christ. For the purpose of this, I do not intend to discuss whether or not the Bible considers it possible that genuine believers can fall away (for the avoidance of doubt, I do not believe this can happen and that Scripture is clear that God saves AND keeps His people). For the purpose of this I am merely taking my lead from the many warnings there are in the New Testament to make sure that we do not. And this is what has gotten me thinking. I fear that it is entirely possible to become so fixated on the changing ideology and culture around us that we forget to mount an effective rear-guard action. We become so fixated on the threat from the world, that we ignore the threat from the flesh and the devil. And before you know it, we have maintained our Christian moral values on the big issue of the day, but we have abandoned our faith in Christ, his gospel & his word.
My point is simple. The ultimate threat to Christians is always the same. That we will abandon our faith in Christ. There are many tactics that can be employed to achieve that one end game (just read the Screwtape letters for a some good illustrations of this) and because there are so many tactics we cannot allow ourselves to be misdirected by whatever threat seems to be looming largest. The gold at the center, the core and the essence, is to know Christ. And through Christ to know God. And through his death and faith in him to be reconciled to God for all eternity. Ultimately if we are to stand firm we need to direct ourselves to hold fast to what we are, a people belonging to God. And we must hold fast to how we got there, salvation by grace alone, in Christ Alone, through faith alone. It is therefore my conviction that the right way to prepare for persecution, indeed suffering of any kind and magnitude that the Christian may face, must begin with and revolve around a deeper understanding of the character of God (Father, Son & Spirit), His manner of relating to His people, His grace, love and mercy, His Sovereignty and above all, His means of saving us, His people, and keeping us for eternity. All as revealed and demonstrated to us in His Word. And, ultimately, it is only in humble dependence on and submission to Jesus Christ and his Word, that we can hope to maintain any degree of long term faithfulness to him, including on the big issues that confront us in the world today. As Jesus explains in John 15:4-5
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
There is wisdom in seeking greater understanding of the cultural forces and historical movements that have brought this threat upon us, but knowing this will not save you. Knowing this will not protect you and it will not keep you saved. If this is where you fix your gaze you run the risk of becoming like Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid part 3. Trained to lose but also trained to believe he was invincible and could never fall. He was deceived. The risk is that we become deceived, tricked into a false confidence by our understanding of where culture is at, how it got there and where we think it is heading.
There is wisdom in thinking through how we educate our children, but a sound Christian education will not save them. It will not protect them.
There is wisdom in understanding the theological implications of the differing ideologies we may encounter throughout our life. In fact, it is very wise to devote time to thinking Christianly and theologically about everything we engage with. But understanding the reasons why something is wrong, even understanding them biblically, will not be enough to save you and it will not protect you (though it will be an aid to clear Christian thinking). I am working through the article by Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of the New Affections at the moment. And this is exactly his point. No amount of understanding of why something is wrong is enough to guard us against its power. Only a new affection for Christ and His Word can do this.
My point is not that we ignore all this and bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich. Indeed we should be engaging with all of this and applying a theological and biblical framework to it all as we do so. My point is that doing this will not save and keep us. Doing this is not what equips us to face persecution.
What equips us for persecution is a deeper and fuller knowledge of God in the Gospel. What equips us for persecution and suffering is to have the gospel and good theology deeply rooted in our hearts and for our hearts, minds and lives to be deeply rooted in Christ. As we are a people, and have a corporate responsibility to keep each other standing firm, then we should make much of this in our conversation with each other. We should make much of this in our small groups, our training of leaders, our men’s and women’s groups, our children’s and youth groups. We should make much of this in our prayers for each other.
Ultimately, we turn to Acts 4:12. Salvation is found in no-one else. Jesus Christ and him alone. So fix your eyes, mind and heart on him first. Lest we end up like the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. They could not tolerate evil people. They tested those who claimed to be apostles but were not and they knew them to be liars. They laboured and they endured much hardship. But in all of that, they abandoned their first love. They abandoned Christ.
Despite their clarity, despite their rejection of all falsehood and error, Christ looks upon and them and declares them to have fallen far. He declares that unless they change and remember him, their lamp stand (in effect their church Rev 1v20) will cease to be. It is a scary thought to know that the church in Ephesus, where Paul had engaged in so much ministry, did not survive. In the end they fell, not because they fell in with and capitulated to the big evil of the day. Not at all, they were crystal clear on this and stood firm in their rejection of it, likely to much persecution. They fell because they became more about what they were not than what they were. They fell because their hope was focused on their rejection of evil and they drifted into abandoning their hope in Christ.
This is a scary thought. It is scarier still to ask the question…for how many years did the gathering continue, preaching against the evils of the age around them and doing so in the name of Christ, even though it was no longer a gathering of Jesus’ people. A gathering of people, but not a church.
