Day: 2

Why We Serve the Persecuted

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Acts 9:1-5 (NIV)

Starting with Why

Simon Sinek burst onto the world scene in 2009 with his breakout TED video, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” which garnered over 47,000,000 views. Simon is an organizational consultant and the author of five books.

In the marketing world, he noticed that most companies start their advertising by answering the “what?” question (they tell what they do), then answering the “how?” question (how they do what they do), before they finally move on to answer the “why?” question (why they do what they do).

But as he studied the worlds’ greatest leaders, Simon noticed that they thought and communicated in reverse. They all started by answering the “why?”question when calling others to action.

Consider Elon Musk’s marketing regarding Tesla: “We want to save the planet by moving the world away from fossil fuels.” His messaging starts by answering the “why?” question!

He moves on to the “how?” (i.e., electric cars, solar energy, batteries) and then the “what?” (i.e., the best and most efficient batteries, technology, design, etc.).

Saving the world from global warming through electric cars is an incredibly motivating “why.” It’s a big part of the reason Tesla’s products have such cachet and are so enthusiastically embraced.

The “Why” of the Persecuted

That being said, let me start this journey with the reason “why” I serve the persecuted.

The answer to this “why” question was revealed to me in the passage at the top of this devotion. I must have read chapter nine in Acts at least 50 times over the years prior to my work with the persecuted, but I missed something: something so profound and so simple that it had been staring me in the face for years.

Saul, blinded by a great flash of light, falls off his horse onto the ground. He hears the voice of Jesus for the first time:

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

There is no mistaking the source of this voice. It was the voice of a God – but not a God he knew.

“Who are you, Lord?” He asks.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” Jesus replied.

Jesus reveals His name again but gets to the point of His issue with Saul.

“Why are you persecuting ME?”

There is a ton of theology packed into those five words. Stop and chew on that for a minute.

I used to think it meant that he cared deeply about the persecuted and empathized with them. Ahhh, but then I realized that this wasn’t just an artful turn of phrase. There was something profound at work here.

Jesus didn’t say, “You are persecuting my children,” or “You are hurting those I love,” or “You are persecuting my church.” He said, “You are persecuting Me – Jesus.” He had a personal issue with what Saul was doing.

One Body

I suggest that you complete a study on the phrase “one body” in scripture. You will be struck with how foundational this teaching is to the Christian faith, especially in the New Testament.

The bottom line of the phrase is this: God’s Holy Spirit is living inside all those (John 3:3-8) who make up His true church.

Now think about the persecuted who, as you read this, are being beaten, raped, or tortured in prison. If Jesus is living inside of them, HE is experiencing what they are experiencing.

Mother Theresa

I think of Mother Theresa, who took the dying off the streets of Calcutta and ministered to them in their last days on earth. These people were laying in their own filth. Their skin was crawling with maggots that they peeled off and stuck to the street.

The nuns picked these people up from off the street and brought them to their ministry, where they bathed them, loved on them, and let them die with dignity.

In the last ten years or so of her career, Mother Theresa became a world-renowned “rock star.” Her stature drew thousands of new nuns into her ministry to serve the dying.

As the new nuns came on board, they were overwhelmed with revulsion while cleaning these people.

They watched Mother Theresa lovingly clean these lost souls, dress their bodies, and love their spirits while they lay minutes or days away from death. Almost all those they cared for died within days.

The nuns asked Mother Theresa how she could commit herself to a work that was so revolting and hopeless. She replied:

“[With] each person I touch, I touch the body of Jesus. I am cleaning His body, loving on His body. For us, this is the broken body of Jesus.”

I don’t know if Mother Theresa meant that the spirit of Jesus was in all people or if she meant that she went about her work with this image in mind to motivate her, but her comment is very close to something the Lord once told me.

My Experience

Two weeks after I first came to Christ, the Lord instructed me to ask for the forgiveness of somebody I had wounded deeply. After asking for their forgiveness, He instructed me to tell this person about Himself.

His message was so clear that it was almost audible: “When you hurt her, you were hurting me.”  I had no idea at the time what that meant, and I still have only a glimpse of understanding:

The Word tells us we are one body, the body of Jesus.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Matthew 25:34-40 (ESV)

This is not a trite phrase or marketing slogan. It is a deep spiritual mystery, a reality that we won’t fully understand until we get to heaven.

By taking an interest in this study, investing in your spiritual growth, and caring for your persecuted brothers and sisters, you are living out Matthew 25 in some measure.

You have started (or, are well traveled!) on the path of escape from the American dream: the curse of living for self, ease, and comfort. You care about the suffering of your Lord’s body in the persecuted church.

I suspect that the Lord has brought you this way, and I’m excited for what He’s going to show you as we journey together with the persecuted.

For Further Reading

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

Matthew 25:31-33 (NIV)

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV)

“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’ ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’”

John 3:3-8 (NIV)

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”

Hebrews 6:10 (NIV)

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

John 12:26 (NIV)

“Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Mark 10:48 (NIV)

“And whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:27-28 (NIV)

“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Romans 12:5 (NIV)

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

Colossians 1:21-24 (NIV)

“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

Hebrews 13:1-3 (NIV)

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

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