"But when Herod died,
behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared
in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt,
and said,
'Get up, take the Child and His mother,
and go into the land of Israel;
for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.'
So Joseph got up,
took the Child and His mother, and
came into the land of Israel"
(Matt 2:19-21).
It has always bothered me when I hear Christian ministries to the Arabs refer to Israel as the Holy Land. This politically correct choice of words is typically motivated by a desire not to needlessly offend Palestinians by using a term that ascribes ownership, and/or justifies so-called occupation. Now I completely understand a desire not to unnecessarily offend people we long to reach for Christ. But what do we do when the offensive terms happen to be biblical?
Consider the fact that the Apostle Matthew
calls this land "the land of Israel" (twice!)
even when the land was not in Jewish possession
(it was occupied by Rome!).
Consider the fact that the Apostle John
continues to call
the capitol of the kingdom "Jerusalem"
(not Aelia Capitolina or Al-Quds) thirty years after the Romans had reduced the city to rubble. Correct terminology, even if it's offensive, still matters to God, because truth is not relative to politics. God will continue calling this land "the land of Israel," even if (perish the thought) the Jewish people are exiled again, and again, and again.
The most loving way to minister to people is by helping them realign their values, morals, and worldview with biblical truth. Because the human heart, including Jewish hearts, is thoroughly deceitful (see Jer 17:11), the truth always offends and always hurts. But hurt inflicted by truth is never intended to crush, but to restore, and truth restores by resetting broken limbs that have been used constantly to fight against God and against the timeless truths of his word.
What does Matthew 10:33 mean?
Christ will acknowledge
to His Father
everyone who acknowledges to others
that
He is the Son of God
(Matthew 10:32; John 3:16–18)
In other words, when the time of judgment before God comes, Jesus will vouch for everyone who embraced Him as their Savior. He will stand alongside them, before God the Father, as a righteous witness to vouch for those who are His. The implication is that those who are His will be welcomed into eternity with the Father.
Now Jesus adds that the opposite is also true. He will refuse to acknowledge to God anyone who denies Christ to other men. Because human beings can only be declared righteous by faith in Jesus (John 14:6), those He denies will be denied by the Father, as well. The consequences will be eternal (John 3:36).
This statement inspires a great deal of fear, since it seems to suggest that anyone who denies their faith, on earth, will be lost. However, there are reasons to expect denying Christ to be a real temptation. For the apostles and early Christians, a simple denial that Jesus was the Son of God could have been the difference between life and death, between arrest or freedom, between feeding one's family or not. The stakes that come with being associated with Him will be high for these twelve apostles and for many others. Jesus, though, wants His followers to understand that the stakes of denying Him will be much higher than merely death on this side of eternity.
The full context of Scripture strongly suggests that a single, panic-driven denial of Jesus will not necessarily end a believer's opportunity to spend eternity with the Father. Christians are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus, not by perfect performance in acknowledging Him (Ephesians 2:8–9). Peter will most famously deny Christ at a crucial moment because of his own fear of being arrested and killed (Matthew 26:69–74). After Jesus' resurrection and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, though, Peter will spend the rest of his life powerfully acknowledging Jesus to others (Acts 2).
Where this warning becomes more dire is in the lives of those who consistently, or easily, dissociate themselves from Christ for the sake of health, wealth, popularity, or freedom. Those who aren't willing to be associated with Jesus on earth won't be allowed to claim association with Him in eternity
(Matthew 10:37; Mark 8:36)
What does it mean
that
Christians are the aroma of Christ?
Second Corinthians 2:15 says,
“For we are to God
the pleasing aroma of Christ among
those who are being saved
and
those who are perishing.”
To understand what the apostle Paul meant when he said that Christians are the “aroma of Christ,” we must look at the verses immediately surrounding the expression: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.
And who is equal to such a task?” (verses 14–16).
For Jewish people, the apostle Paul’s analogy of
"the pleasing aroma
of
Christ”
would present an immediate association. In the Old Testament, the scent of burnt offerings was described as “an aroma pleasing to the Lord”
(Genesis 8:20–21; Leviticus 23:18; Numbers 28:27)
For the Gentiles, this phrase would suggest the scent of incense being burned as an offering to the gods. However, Paul had a more specific picture in mind.
The apostle was speaking to the Corinthians about recent events in his ministry of evangelism. Despite all the difficulties and disappointments he’d faced while traveling from city to city spreading the gospel, Paul was able to reflect on God’s goodness with thanksgiving. The apostle then compared this ministry of evangelism to the triumphal military parades that were common at that time in the Roman world.
Paul’s metaphor would be readily understood by his audience, with the apostle and his co-laborers portrayed as victorious soldiers in a triumphal procession. During these Roman military parades, captives of war would be marched through the streets as garlands of flowers were carried and incense was burned to the gods. The aromatic perfumes wafted on the air as spectators and those in the procession breathed in their fragrance. At the parade’s finale, many prisoners would be put to death.
Thus, the aromas were
pleasing and life-giving to the victors,
but they were the smell of death
to those who had been defeated
In Paul’s analogy, he separates humanity into two groups: those on the path of salvation and those on the road to destruction. The aroma spread everywhere by the ministry of evangelism was the knowledge of God as victor. Christians who spread the gospel are members of God’s victorious army led by Jesus Christ. Believers are like the aroma or fragrance spread during the victory processions. Both the victors and those perishing smell the aroma; however, it has a different meaning for the two groups. For the victorious army and its peoples, the aroma would relate to the joy of triumph. But for the prisoners of war, the fragrance would be associated with defeat, slavery, and death.
This brilliant metaphor contrasts Christian and non-Christian responses to hearing the gospel. To non-Christians, those on the road to destruction, believers who preach the gospel spread the smell of death, as it were. To Christians, those on the path to salvation, they produce the fragrance of life.
Overwhelmed by the extreme importance of this ministry of spreading the gospel, Paul exclaimed, “And who is equal to such a task?” The implication is that no one is worthy. Paul was astounded that God would appoint humans to share in this task. Later, in 2 Corinthians 3:5–6, Paul affirms that our ability rests solely on God: “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Is it wrong to live lives as secret Christians for fear of reprisal or even death? Should Christians be willing to die for confessing the name of Jesus? Should we keep our faith secret in order to preserve our lives? This is a question that is only hypothetical for Christians in many parts of the world, with the worst persecution they could receive being ridicule and/or insults. However, for Christians in some parts of the world, this question is very real and practical—their lives literally are at risk. It is one thing to not be as bold as you would like in order to protect your own life and/or the lives of your family. It is another thing entirely to make your own life a higher priority than serving, honoring, worshiping, and obeying Christ. So, with that said, is it wrong to keep your faith in Christ a secret?
Jesus Himself gives us the answer: "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:32-34). Christ made it clear to us that “if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). So, while it is understandable for someone to keep his/her faith in Christ a secret in order to save his/her life, for a Christian, a secret faith is simply not an option.
In the passage above, the word “world” comes from the Greek kosmos. It refers to an evil, fallen world system of godless, immoral people whose hearts and minds are controlled by Satan (John 14:30; 1 John 5:19; Ephesians 2:1-3). Satan hates God. He also hates those who follow Christ. Christians are the focal point of Satan’s wrath. His goal is to “devour” them (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11). We should not be surprised that the world’s rulers hate believers simply because we “are not of the world.” The reason why Christians are being persecuted and killed daily for their confession of Christ is that our godly lives serve to condemn this world’s wicked deeds (Proverbs 29:27). It has been this way from the beginning of time with the first murder ever recorded when Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:1-8). Why did Cain do this? “Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:12). Correspondingly, the world today cheers those who practice evil (Romans 1:32) and condemns those who would live righteously.
Another message that Jesus brought to the world: “They [the world] will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). Jesus has promised us this: at the end times Christians will suffer severe persecution by this ungodly world. We will be profaned, abused, and cursed. The phrase “will deliver” comes from the Greek word meaning “giving over,” as in the sense of being arrested by the police or military (Matthew 4:12). Many will be murdered. We will be “hated by all nations” for His name’s sake. In the parallel passage of Mark, Jesus declares, “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them” (Mark 13:9). As we are witnessing today throughout the world, being identified with the name of Christ will cost us our freedoms, our rights, our respect, and sometimes our lives.
Christians have a mandate from Christ to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Paul echoes Christ’s directive with this query: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Romans 10:14-15). In order for the gospel to be proclaimed, even in the darkest corners of the earth, someone must do the proclaiming. Our purpose on earth is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, telling others the life-saving news of Jesus Christ. Yes, sometimes we risk persecution in doing so, and sometimes we risk our own lives. But we know it is God’s will that we share His truth with others, and we also know He is powerful enough to protect us until our mission on earth is completed.
Living for Christ in this world can be difficult, even brutal. This world is not our home. The world is a battlefield. The trials of life are the tools God uses for building us up and making us more like Jesus. It is in those dark times that we look to Christ and let His power work within us. Just before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gave us His final command to spread the gospel to the world. With that He also gave us His final promise. “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). And that is all that matters.
The Bible talks a lot about suffering for the sake of Christ. In the era in which the New Testament was written, followers of Jesus were often ostracized by their own families and communities. Some of the worst persecution came from the religious leaders (Acts 4:1–3). Jesus told His followers, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10). He reminded His disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first" (John 15:18).
Second Timothy 3:12 says, "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." As in biblical times, many Christians today have found that making a public declaration of faith in Christ can result in imprisonment, beatings, torture, or death (Hebrews 11:32–38; 2 Corinthians 12:10; Philippians 3:8; Acts 5:40). Often those of us in free nations shudder at the thought, but we feel relatively safe. We understand that there are thousands who suffer daily for the sake of Christ and are thankful we don’t have to. But is there only one kind of persecution?
Jesus stated clearly what it means to follow Him: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" (Luke 9:23–25). Our modern understanding of the phrase "take up their cross and follow me" is often inadequate. In Jesus’ day the cross always symbolized death. When a man carried a cross, he had already been condemned to die on it. Jesus said that, in order to follow Him, one must be willing to die. We will not all die martyrs’ deaths. We will not all be imprisoned, beaten, or tortured for our faith. So what kind of death did Jesus mean?
Paul explains in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." To follow Christ means we die to our own way of doing things. We consider our will, our rights, our passions, and our goals to be crucified on the cross with Him. Our right to direct our own lives is dead to us (Philippians 3:7–8). Death involves suffering. The flesh does not want to die. Dying to self is painful and goes against our natural inclination to seek our own pleasure. But we cannot follow both Christ and the flesh (Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:24; Romans 8:8). Jesus said, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
Paul suffered more than most for Jesus’ sake. He said this to the Christians at Phillipi: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him" (Philippians 1:29). The word granted here means "shown favor, given freely as a gift." Paul does not present suffering as a curse, but as a benefit.
Suffering can take many forms. By choosing to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, we are setting ourselves at odds with the world. Galatians 1:10 says,
"For am I now
seeking
the favor of men,
or of God?
Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ" (NASB). By closely adhering to the teachings of the Bible, we set ourselves up for rejection, mockery, loneliness, or betrayal. Often, the cruelest persecution comes from those who consider themselves spiritual but have defined God according to their own ideas. If we choose to take a stand for righteousness and biblical truth, we ensure that we will be misunderstood, mocked, or worse. We need to keep in mind that no threat of suffering deterred the apostles from preaching Christ. In fact, Paul said that losing everything was worth it "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Philippians 3:10, NASB). Acts 5:40–41 describes the reaction of the apostles after they received another beating for preaching about Jesus: "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."
Suffering in some form
is always going to be
a part of being a
true follower of Christ
Jesus said the
path that leads to life
is difficult
(Matthew 7:14)
Our hardship is also a way of identifying
with His suffering in a small way
Jesus said if we deny him
before men,
He will deny us
before His Father in heaven
(Matthew 10:33; Luke 12:9)
There are many subtle ways to deny Christ. If our actions, words, lifestyle, or entertainment choices do not reflect His will, we are denying Christ. If we claim to know Him but live as though we didn’t, we are denying Christ (1 John 3:6–10).
Many people choose those forms of
denying Christ
because they do not want to suffer for Him.
Often our greatest suffering comes from within as we battle for control over a heart that must die to its own will and surrender to Christ’s lordship
(Romans 7:15–25)
In whatever form suffering comes, we should embrace it as a badge of honor and a privilege that we, like the apostles, have "been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."