Warning: This is my reflection on a book that I’m currently reading, but haven’t yet finished.
In the book, The Insanity of Obedience (B&H Publishing Group: Nashville, TN, 2014), Nik Ripken brings a prophetic voice to those who are living a complacent Christian life in the West. I was recommended this book by a friend and it is crushing my heart right now, so here are some thoughts on what I’ve read so far.
Ripken first argues that persecution is the natural result of following the command of Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. Those who will be obedient witnesses of Jesus will necessarily be persecuted, there’s no way around it (see Matthew 10). We can look at the record of Acts and see that is the case for the believers in the first century and it also seems to be the case in developing countries where the gospel is flourishing. One question that obviously follows is if obedience necessarily brings persecution, how do we explain the nature of the West? More on this later.
Ripken argues that “persecutors seek to deny human beings the two great spiritual opportunities: first, access to Jesus and, second, opportunity for witness” (29). What does it mean to deny someone access to Jesus? “Just like persecution, the refusal to share the faith denies people access to Jesus” (29). Did you hear that? Refusing to share Jesus with others is to be complicit with persecutors around the world.
Now, I’m not going to deal with the specifics of persecution right now, I’d rather take a look at the spiritual implications of what we just heard. In Matthew 10, Jesus told his disciples that they were going to experience persecution and that they would be comforted and be given what to say by the Holy Spirit. Jesus continued with these words,
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33 (ESV)
I recently spent some time with this passage interacting with what I had been reading in The Insanity of Obedience . I’ve always read this passage as if there were no dichotomy in it, rather three options: acknowledge, deny, or silence. Jesus, however, only listed two. As I wrestled, I thought it would be a good idea to see if definitions would help clear up the dichotomy.
Acknowledge – 1: to recognize the rights, authorities, or status of; 2: to disclose knowledge of or agreement with
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acknowledge
Deny – 1: to declare untrue; 2: to refuse to admit or acknowledge
https://wwwmerriam-webster.com/dictionary/deny
That second definition of deny helped me come to some clarity: “to refuse to admit or acknowledge.” It seems to me that denial can be passive. When we are passive in our interactions with people, particularly in being silent about Christ, we are refusing to admit or acknowledge him. It seems that silence is passive denial, whereas acknowledgement requires action.
So we come back to the purpose of persecution. If, in our silence, we are refusing access to Jesus and, by our silence, denying Christ, are we not participating in the persecution of others or at least helping achieve the goals of persecutors? Maybe the persecution that we experience in the west is the complacency of the Church to get the gospel out. It may not result in pain and suffering of Christians, but it sure leads to death and destruction of untold thousands of people who never have the opportunity to respond to the gospel. That is the end goal of persecution. Are we complicit in the persecution of the church in the West by our complacency? Does this sound too harsh?
In my reflection, it seems that I, too, am complicit with the persecutors. May God show us mercy as we awake from our spiritual slumber and may God ever increase his Kingdom as a result.
Which is more urgent, the results of the Super Bowl and its commercials or the message of the gospel? Which will you be talking about today?
Journey of Worship 