“Love Them Into the Kingdom:” Lessons from the Persecuted Church
He leads me …
In April 2019 Australian rugby union star Israel Folau urged those targeted in a post to "turn away from your sin". He listed a number of the types of people who sinned including, homosexuals, fornicators [a person who has sex with someone who they are not married to] and drunks.
Rugby Australia along with the Wallabies chief sponsor Qantas, each released a statement condemning these comments by the former National Rugby League and Australian Football League star, who is a devout Christian.
Folau initially responded: ‘I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions, but personally, I will not support gay marriage.’ He later wrote: ‘Since my social media posts were publicised, it has been suggested that I am homophobic and bigoted[1] and that I have a problem with gay people. This could not be further from the truth. I fronted the cover of the Star Observer magazine to show my support for the Bingham Cup, which is an international gay rugby competition for both men and women. I believe in inclusion. In my heart, I know I do not have any phobia towards anyone.’
The media were not interested in Israel Folau’s responses, and they continued to present him as being hostile to homosexuals.
Folau is not alone. There are others like him in the church too. We are often told to hate the sin but not the sinner. The problem is that when the kinds of Christians are like Israel Folau speak out about the sin they are seen as condemning the sinner as well. A lot of unbelievers do not see the difference between the sin and the sinner.
And it is a wider issue than just homosexuality. Christians may disagree with abortion or any form of birth control, but do they hate women? No, of course not. They may decline from attending same-sex wedding ceremonies, so does this mean that they hate gay people? Again, no. Unfortunately many unbelievers do not see the difference. And unfortunately a lot of Christians do not see that they are actually pushing unbelievers away from God by speaking out in this way.
Many Christians make a stand in principle against issues like homosexuality without considering the people involved.
It is unlikely that they have spoken to a teenager who is looking to have an abortion, to get her reasons for proceeding with the termination. They most probably have not spoken to a gay couple who are in love and are so deeply committed to each other that they want to get married, either.
It is also doubtful that the same Christians have studied their Bible deeply enough to find out what it actually says about these topics.
If we are to look at the topic of homosexuality, we should read the account of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11) and a similar narrative of the old man taking a traveller back to his home for the night in Judges 19:16-24. We see that what the men wanted to do to the angels in the Genesis account, was very similar to what the men wanted to do with the traveller in the Judges account. It was all about bullying and power over a vulnerable people. That is what the Lord does not tolerate. It was nothing to do with a loving couple who were committed to each other.
It is also interesting that there is nothing in the Bible that clearly mentions lesbianism. Surely if it was abhorrent to God, He would make that clear?
The answer is clear. We know that God is perfect love, which combined with His grace and mercy tells us what is really important to Him. We see it worked out in John 3:16 which reads, ‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him shall not be lost, but should have eternal life.’ (Philips).
Perhaps as Christians we should follow God’s example, and His second most important commandment to ‘love our neighbours as ourselves’. If Jesus showed such incredible love by going to the cross so that we could enjoy a relationship with Him, then surely we should lead others to Him with love too?
We see this best expressed in the persecuted church, where they do not want us in the west to pray for the elimination of persecution, but to rather for their strength in persecution. In the west our reaction to what the suffering church is going through is probably, ‘Just eradicate persecution! Talk to global leaders! Go to the United Nations!’ but this is not what builds the church. What builds the church is God’s love, not politics. Over and over again, we have watched Christians come out of these very dark parts of the world for a short period of time, only to return some time later- to certain persecution. When asked why they are returning, they respond, ‘Who will be the loving presence of Jesus Christ if I leave?’
There is unspeakable suffering of the persecuted believers and their loved ones, which is a reality for at least 75 percent of the global body of Christ. Brother Andrew once said, ‘Love them into the Kingdom. It does not matter how terrible the persecution. The commandment of God is to love thy enemy.’
‘We must grow up,’ Dr. David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA said. ‘Christ calls us beyond ourselves to care for the stranger and the foreigner, not to look after ourselves. When people met the first disciples, what did they say? Look how they love one another! They loved everyone, forgave everyone. This love was so radical that thousands were added in one day.”
If this does not seem to make sense, perhaps we should consider that the church in Iran is the fastest growing house church movement in the world, followed by the house church movements in Syria and Egypt. What do they have in common? Suffering.
Persecuted Christians have learned to stay true, not to orthodoxy, but to Jesus. We, too, ought to begin to focus on the principles of who Jesus is and what He did on the cross - and then live out His words. Persecution is increasing, and it is just a matter of time before it will wake up a sleeping church in the West.[2]
[1] Bigot - a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. Taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary web site; https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bigot
[2] Love Them Into the Kingdom:” Lessons from the Persecuted Church, Anna Stepanek Cox, Nations Media;
https://nationsmedia.org/lessons-persecuted-church/
