All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
A Christian is not a favourite with the world
Who can help admiring the frankness of Scripture? It shows us the difficulties as well as the enjoyments of religion; the sacrifices it requires, as well as the rewards it insures. This is perfectly just, and in every way profitable.
I. The life described. It may be taken with two distinctions.
1. It is not merely a moral life, but a godly one. We by no means depreciate morality. A man cannot be religious without being moral, but he may be moral without being religious. It is well to be a good master, a good neighbour, a good subject--but how are you disposed towards God?
2. It is not merely a godly life, but a Christian one. We are not only to live godly, but to live godly “in Christ Jesus;” i.e., in all our religious concerns--To be governed by the revelation of Jesus Christ--To be conformed to the example of Jesus Christ--To be actuated by the grace of Jesus Christ--And to depend on the mediation of Jesus Christ.
II. The condition announced as the consequence of the life described. “Shall suffer persecution.”
1. That ever since the Fall there has beenan irreconcilable enmity between the “seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent”; that “man being alienated from the life of God,” loves nothing that reminds him of God; that the tempers and actions of the righteous necessarily reprove and upbraid the wicked; that their endeavours to save disturb them in their sins; that the gospel condemns the worldly as well as the vicious, and the formal as well as the negligent; that, as there is nothing in Christianity that flatters sin, so there is nothing that flatters self; and that every man is naturally as self-righteous as he is depraved.
2. To this we may add another source of the inevitableness of persecution. It is taken from the Christian himself. Suffering is necessary for his trial and his triumph. Without this how could he prove that he loves God better than friendship, reputation, wealth, or life? How could he overcome evil with good? It is warfare that makes a good soldier. A Christian is like the firmament, and it is the darkness of affliction that makes his starry graces to shine out. He is like those herbs and plants that best effuse their odours when bruised.
Concluding reflections:--
1. There are some who suffer persecution that do not live godly in Christ Jesus. The people of the world cannot easily distinguish between “the form of godliness and the power,” and therefore the pretending and the sincere frequently fare alike. The hypocrite loses heaven for the sake of earth, and earth for the sake of heaven, and is of all creatures the most miserable.
2. With what caution and prayer should we assume a profession of religion!
3. If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. It gives you an opportunity to proveyour thankfulness for His goodness, and your adherence to His gospel.
4. But what shall we say to persecutors? If you feel enmity against the godly, and would injure them were it in your power, it is “a token of perdition.” You may now be placed above them in circumstances; and may love to misrepresent and to vilify them. But “their Redeemer is mighty.” He is “near that justifieth them.” He “will plead their cause.” He that “toucheth them, toucheth the apple of His eye.” (W. Jay.)
Persecution of Christians by the world
The greater part of our sufferings are not distinguishable from the common afflictions of life; and many of the trials that some foolish professors frequently charge on religion, religion would teach them to avoid, if its admonitions were regarded. But, on the other hand, it must be allowed--
1. That human nature is essentially the same in every age; and that a tiger may be chained and not changed. Under every form of government “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” And where there is a strong active propensity against anything (as, in this case, there must be against real godliness), it will show itself as opportunity offers; and such opportunity there must be in a world like this.
2. That persecution admits of various degrees. It includes every kind of injury or vexation, from a fiery stake to a scornful sneer. How often has genuine religion produced the loss of friendship, or chilled the warmth of attachment into cold civility! Where power is possessed, it is frequently exerted as far as safety or a regard to appearances will allow. This is seen in the attempts of husbands, parents, and masters, to restrain from following their religious convictions their wives, their children, and their servants. With regard to relations, a Christian will sometimes find a greater trim in their affections than in their frowns. Here is a mother, in all other respects tender and kind; she takes her daughter aside, and weeps to think she should favour a doctrine “everywhere spoken against.”
3. If modern Christians frequently escape persecution, may it not be asked whether, in many instances, it does not arise from their less fully exemplifying the spirit of their religion than the primitive Christians did?
(1) The one is concealment. This is dastardly and mean. We should never be drawn out of a corner by the praise of man, nor be driven into a corner by the fear of man.
(2) The other is accommodation. And it is awful to think how one doctrine and usage after another has been given up! Christianity, says one, will never be received by Jews and Mahometans, while you “honour the Son as you honour the Father.” It will never be acceptable, says another, to men of taste and learning, till you abandon the barbarous notion of the atonement and of original sin. Now, upon this plan, what would be left after all the objectors were satisfied? Christianity allows of no alteration. It needs none. The change required therefore is, where it ought to be in the world. (W. Jay.)
A good man a good mark for the arrow
The better the man, the sooner persecuted; the devil shoots his arrows at the whitest marks. (T. Hall, B. D.)
A good man a miracle of preservation
It is a miracle of mercy to consider how the lily subsists in the midst of so many briars and thorns, how the Lord’s wheat grows in the midst of so many tares, how His doves live in the midst of so many birds of prey, and His lambs in the midst of so many roaring lions. Were not the Almighty her defence, those bands of ungodliness would soon destroy her. (T. Hall, B. D.)
God honoured by His suffering servants
Hereby we honour God, and so bring honour to ourselves. God hath much honour by His suffering servants, when out of love to Him they can sacrifice their lives and estates for Him. God glories in such; as He suffers in their sufferings so He triumphs in their conquests. (T. Hall, B. D.)
Best when worst
Godis pleased to reserve the sweetest manifestations from the bitterest afflictions. The fountain runs most sweetly when the cistern is broken. When comforts are most needed they will be most prized. The traveller in summer, when the sun shines, casts off his cloak, but in winter, or when the wind blows hard, he wraps it closer to him. So when we bathe ourselves in creature comforts we value not the promises of God, but when we are stripped of all then we look after God. When the salt waters are dried up, then there are fresh springs in God. (T. Hall, B. D.)
The good man happy in adversity, the bad man miserable in prosperity
See the happiness of a child of God. Take him at worst, and he is better than a wicked man at best. The one in prosperity hath no joy, the other in adversity is full of joy. (T. Hall, B. D.)
Brave martyrdom
At Perth, in 1554, there were three male prisoners and one woman--Helen Stirk--put to death for their adherence to the gospel of Jesus. The latter was taken to see her husband suffer before she followed him. They embraced under the gallows. “Husband,” she said, “we have lived together many joyful days; but this day in which we must die ought to be most joyful to us both, because we must have joy for ever. Therefore I will not bid you good-night. Certainly we shall meet again in the kingdom of heaven.” The executioners seized their prey, and she, too, was then led away to be drowned. When she reached the water’s edge she gave the child to a nurse, she was hurled in, and the justice of the Church was satisfied.
