RADICAL REACTIONS
Part II
Last month we were introduced to the reality of resistant people groups. And we dealt with the reasons for such resistance and ideas for culturally encountering it. This month we will weigh the biblical foundation for suffering and martyrdom as they relate to global proclamation among the hardest, most resistant peoples.
OVERCOMING RESISTANCE THROUGH MARTYRDOM:
The general state of affairs. There are over one billion Muslims, most of whom live within the 10/40 window where there are thirty-eight nations in which over fifty percent of the people are Muslim. Most of these countries are dominantly Muslim and they intend to stay that way. The leaders of such countries resolutely resist all non-Muslim evangelistic efforts. All things considered, Muslim evangelism is risky business.
One out of every three unreached people is a Muslim. For many years the work among Muslims has been difficult and the results minimal. However, recently Christians have been praying much more for Muslims "with the result that Muslims are coming to Jesus in virtually all Muslim countries. These workers report that many who are coming to Jesus have been influenced to do so by dreams or visions of
Christ."[1] <#_ftn1> But these miraculous conversions are not
happening easily. Often where there are Muslims converting to Christ via dreams and visions, they are preceded by bloody persecution and martyrdom of Christians—missionaries and nationals alike.
Theological implications. Why do we need a theology of martyrdom? Perhaps one reason is that it has always been of great importance to the church. In fact, "some scholars have argued that a touchstone in the formation of the New Testament canon was whether a document helped prepare the disciple community for suffering, even
unto death."[2] <#_ftn2> The obvious place to start in seeking an
answer to the question above is with Jesus on the cross. From man's point of view, Christ was receiving capital punishment for not recanting His position as Messiah. On the other hand, from God's point of view it was the culmination of a long-held plan to appease His wrath and purchase a people for Himself. No part of what occurred was finally in the hands of the human perpetrators of it. God caused and controlled it all, albeit through the hands of men. "For truly in this city were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur" (Acts 4:27, 28). For Christ, the cross was martyrdom. His blood truly became the "seed of the church."
Martyrdom has two sides to it. One side is what humans do to God's servants, and the other side is what God intends through it.
Following Christ is costly, which is not surprising since He was crucified. And this crucified Christ calls us to follow Him (cf. Mark
8:34 and Matt 10:25). "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."[3] Not all are called to martyrdom, but all are called to
consider life as no value compared to following Him. Why
did God appoint for Paul to suffer as the model of the frontier missionary? How does martyrdom overcome the resistant? The following are theological suggestions:
1. Suffering is the price of making others bold. God uses the suffering of his missionaries to revive others out of their indifference and embolden them. From prison Paul wrote, "Most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear" (Philippians 1:14).
2. Suffering actualizes and represents Christ's afflictions. Suffering missionaries may influence those they are trying to reach and may open them to the gospel. Paul's sufferings were the means God used to bring salvation to the Corinthian church.
They could see the suffering love of Christ in Paul. He was actually sharing in Christ's sufferings and making them real for the church (2 Cor 1:5,). This is part of what Paul meant: "I rejoice in may sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24). His afflictions are not lacking in atoning sufficiency. They are lacking in that they are not known by people who were not at the cross. Paul aspires not only to proclaim Christ's sufferings to the nations but also to suffer so as to show people "Christ's sufferings."
3. Suffering enforces the missionary command to go. The suffering of the church is used by God to reposition the missionary troops in places they might not have otherwise gone. Studies have shown that "hard times, like persecution, often produce more personnel, more prayer, more power, and more open purses than do easy times."[4] Acts 8:1 records that after Stephen's martyrdom, the church reacted by spreading the gospel beyond Jerusalem. Up until then no one had moved out of Judea and Samaria in spite of what Jesus had said in Acts 1:8. It is no accident that these were the very two regions to which the persecution sent the church. What obedience will not achieve, persecution will. In Acts 11:19, persecution sent the church not only to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1) but also beyond to the nations.
4. The suffering of missionaries is meant by God to magnify the greatness of God. Suffering with Jesus on the Calvary road of love is not simply the result of glorifying Christ; it is also the means. His glory and worth shine so brightly when He is shown to be treasured above health, wealth, and life itself. Suffering, whether discomforts or bloody persecution, is the path for making Him most visibly valuable. When the believer, then, exults in the greatness of God in suffering, the power of sin's effects takes a back seat to the power of God's glory. Thus, Christ calls us to this. When we embrace the price of following Christ, His value will shine for the resistant world to see. The price itself will become a means of making Christ look worthy of extreme sacrifice. This will blow open doors to the resistant.[5]
Paul's great passion shows us how the painful cost of glorifying Christ in missions is also the means towards His glorification. "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:20, 21). The question here is raised: How can losing everything in this world be a means of magnifying Jesus? Death is a peril when it threatens to frustrate our main goals. Death is fearful when it threatens to rob us of that which we hold dearest.
But "Paul treasured Christ most, and his goal was to magnify Christ.
And he saw death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment."[6] Paul made Christ look invaluable through suffering. This mind-set will stun the resistant.
Risking for the wrong reasons. There are many dangers in calling Christians to take risks. We might become so infatuated with self-denial that we are unable to enjoy the proper pleasures of this life that God has given for our good. Another danger is that we might take risks for self-exalting reasons. We might feel the adrenaline of heroism. We might rebuke the lazy and feel superior. We might look at risk-taking as a kind of righteousness which makes us acceptable to God. The power and motive behind risk-taking among the resistant is not heroism, the lust for adventure, the courage of self-reliance, or the need to earn God's favor. But rather, it is faith in Christ's promises. We ought to risk "by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11). God supplies His strength through faith in His promises.
Every loss we risk for the purpose of making Christ known, God promises to restore a hundredfold with his His fellowship.
