A Pattern of Persecution

INTRODUCTION Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here. This is our last outdoor service today! It’s starting to get a little chilly in the mornings, so next week we will be moving inside Northpoint for the 4 Sundays of September. Then, Lord willing, they will be done with our lobby, worship center, and parking lot expansion, so we can be back in our Building on October 1st. There will still be another 6 months of construction, but we’ll be able to have services there again! Also, as we jump into the Fall, we are getting very excited for our House Groups to start. These are our groups of 30 40 people that meet weekly and 80% of our people are in. If you want to learn more about them, I highly encourage you to visit our website. Sign ups for house groups are going to start in on September 24th. We are delaying the start of House Groups by 2 weeks this year as we know many people will be showing up again, or for the first time, when we re enter the building October 1st… …and we want them to hear about it, sign up, and get in Christian community this year! One last final thing about House Groups before we get into our message. We are starting 3 brand new house groups this year, that’ll put us at TWENTY house groups! Whoa! And we have everything lined up except one thing: We are still in need of just ONE more host home for one of our brand new groups on Monday nights. Let me ask you a question: Do you have a house? What are you doing on Monday nights? Could you use your house for ministry that night? The Host is not the leader, they just open up their home and are part of the group. We need your help. And I know this is a shot in the dark, but we’d really love to put another one of our house groups to the West of here. I’m talking the Northtown area, Coon Rapids, Andover. If that’s you, I’m really talking to you. If not, we’ll take anything. If you’re interested, and available to be used by God like this, would you make a note on your connection card, or talk to Pastor Josh, or the welcome table, or even just me. WHEN THE SHEPHERD IS STRUCK… All right, we are in our 2nd to last week of the book of Zechariah! And we’ve seen some amazing prophecies this summer! And my biggest prayer is that studying Zechariah has built up your faith in God’s Word as amazing and TRUE! In fact, let’s just review a few of the amazing prophecies, we saw God say, through our friend Zechariah, 500 years before it happened: That the Messiah would snatch us from the fire and take away our sin That the Messiah would be a Branch to the Gentiles That the Messiah would be a King & a Priest That the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey That the Messiah would be sold off for 30 pieces of silver That the Messiah, that God, would be pierced for us And today, we will see yet another Zechariah prophecy that is quoted in the NT, by Jesus Himself this time And this is going to be a prophecy about persecution. Which is a topic that is starting to enter the back of our minds here in America. What will happen if things get worse here for Christians? What will it look like? What will God do? There are some important lessons for us in this chapter. Let’s take a look: Go ahead and grab a Bible (Page 652) We are in chapter 13 of Zechariah now The first 6 verses are in the same vein as chapter 12 last week. Zechariah is still prophesying about what things will be like when many of the Jews turn to Christ in the end times. And then, things turn a bit in verse 7, which is where we will start today. He’s going to point to the first coming of Christ, and then the 2nd coming. Let’s read: (Zechariah 13:7 9) – NIV “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
    “two thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one third will be left in it.
9 This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” So let’s start with verse 7…because here God is talking about when Jesus first comes to earth… And we know this because in Matthew 26 right after the last Supper… …Jesus warned his disciples that they were going to fall away because of what would happen to Him And then Jesus quotes our passage, Zechariah 13:7, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” And that is exactly what happens. Jesus is arrested, and whipped, and crucified, and most of the disciples…scatter…they run for their lives. And before we move on, I want you to see the gospel in this verse. Hasn’t the Book of Zechariah been so richly full of the Gospel? Wow! So, verse 7, the Lord says, “Awake sword..” And the sword is usually a symbol of judgement…and death. And so it’s God, the Father, who is calling forth the sword here. And He tells the sword of judgment to strike the Shepherd. Who is the shepherd? If you were here two weeks ago, we talked in depth about how the Messiah, Jesus, is the shepherd. Remember how Zechariah had to literally become a shepherd to playact what life would be like for Jesus, God’s Shepherd? And God says, “sword, go against the man who is close to me” It’s kind of a curious Hebrew phrase, but it means, “the one who is close to me, like, my peer, my equal.” Who is that? The Son of God! It’s Jesus! And so here, the Scriptures are telling us, again, 500 years in advance, that God the Father will allow His Son, the Shepherd, to be struck for us. Now, much like last week, we are studying prophecies from Zechariah about what will happen when Jesus comes the 1st time (which already happened), and also prophecies about when Jesus will be coming back the 2nd time (in the end of days) And while we can certainly take note of what will happen, and that’s good for us to know…especially if it happens in our lifetime! But we should also take note of patterns here. Just like last week we studied the pattern, or the anatomy, of an awakening. And this week we see a pattern in persecution Let’s take a look at it. It starts with the shepherd being struck. And everyone is afraid. And why are they afraid? The disciples are afraid in part because they don’t want to suffer themselves. And they’re afraid and confused because they just didn’t think this was going to happen. Even though Jesus warned them repeatedly that it would. The disciples were living under this false theology that said, “The Son of God won’t suffer…because well, He’s the Son of God!” And perhaps, maybe underlying that false theology, was the idea that maybe too that they won’t suffer because they’re with the Son of God But their worldview was wrong. And when their beliefs got shattered, they scattered. They ran. And this is why it’s so important that we have good theology on suffering. We actually teach on suffering fairly often here at Renovation Church, in part, because I think the American church’s theology of suffering is incredibly weak, or even at times, heretical. I actually think one of the biggest heresies in American Churches right now is the belief that goes something like: “God has a great plan of blessing for you, and He’s got something good just around the corner for you.” My friend, God might end your life tomorrow. And if He did, it would be for His glory. And He would use it for His good. But hear me American Christians: God’s main aim is not to give you a more blessed life where you just keep getting more and more happy through promotions, and your family, and all your life circumstances working out. That’s just a new version of the prosperity gospel heresy. And if you believe that false theology that God only wants to bring good into your life as a follower of Jesus.. Then, like the disciples, you will absolutely scatter when God allows persecution to come. And we see this in history and in Scripture. When persecution gets really hard, when persecution means violence, or prison, or separation from family… …like we see in many countries around the world today…the sheep really scatter. The church gets thinned. The wheat is separated from the chaff. The believers from the fake believers. Let me explain it this way: If, in 5 or 10 years, the devil has so maligned Christianity here in America, that secular people around us feel like they will be associated with bigots if they are seen in church… Anyone who is not truly in Christ, will flee from the church. They’ll stop coming. The church will be thinned. And we also see right here in this passage, that in the end times, even though there will be a great revival amongst the Jews, it appears by Zechariah’s prophecy that in the end times, only 1/3 of them are going to survive the tribulation times. There will be a thinning. The other 2/3 will be struck down by the plagues you can read about in the Book of Revelation. And it says that the other 2/3 will not only die, but perish. That means enter into eternity in hell…so they didn’t actually become followers of Christ. The intensity of the suffering was too much for them, and they didn’t believe. And then what happens to the remnant? The 1/3 who are holding on to faith in Christ…even in the midst of severe trial (and if you read the Book of Revelation…it is SEVERE trial). What does God do with those believers who are living in the midst of intense persecution? He must protect them and bless them for their faith, right? And make sure they have a joyous and comfortable and victorious life, right? Like all the popular Christian songs seem to say nowadays, “He’s got a victory coming for them, right! He’s gonna win their battle! He’s going to slay their giants!” That’s how we all seem to talk nowadays. But what does Word of God actually say?? Verse 9: This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold I need to say something very important to you, and very Biblical, and yet shocking to our culture. Sometimes God actually wills for you to suffer…and often that comes in the form of persecution. And if you don’t understand that Biblical Truth…you are absolutely going to flee when the shepherd gets struck…or when you, the sheep, gets struck. And I think we’re seeing that somewhat in America right now. People are deconstructing their faith and walking away from God. And I believe that it’s happening, in part, because many of these people grew up in churches that falsely told if they just followed God, He was going to bless them and give them a happy life… And so when they struggled, they said, “well, forget that! A loving God would never allow me to struggle like that. This whole God thing isn’t true!” And this is why we have to teach people the Bible again, not just give motivational TED talks in churches and youth groups and on social media. What does the Bible say? God says, through Zechariah, that He will use that persecution as a refiner’s fire. If this teaching is new to you, 1 Peter is a great book to read in the Bible. Look at 1 Peter 4:19 (1 Peter 4:19) – NIV So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. Let me give you two examples of how you may suffer “according to God’s will” as the bible says. 1) Sometimes God is allowing or permitting hard times to happen An example of this would be the case of Job in the Old Testament God allows the devil to bring suffering into Job’s life But it is the devil who is bringing it. But God in His sovereignty will use ultimate good. And a second example would be that sometimes God Himself actually brings hard times into your life, as in the case of Joseph in the book of Genesis… As a young man, Joseph is sold into slavery, and then worse yet, wrongly put in jail. If you showed this story to any random American nowadays, they would say, “A loving God would never do that. Joseph is a good person” But listen, too often we’re accusing God of making a bad move in checkers, when in truth, He’s playing 4D chess. God uses prison to humble Joseph. To develop Joseph. And for Joseph to make the connections in order to eventually reach Pharaoh, and be in charge of all of Egypt…and then save millions of people from a famine…, including Jesus’ family line! But see the blessing was through prison, not around it! Prison was the refiner’s fire. Because God says through Zechariah that he will refine your faith like silver, and test it like gold. Now, maybe if it was 1849, we’d all have a good understanding of how gold is refined, but since most of us have no idea, let me explain a little bit. Now, if you discovered gold in your back yard…firstly, think of our Illuminate fund. But seriously, if you found gold in your back yard…it wouldn’t be 100% pure. It would have impurities in it…things that aren’t gold. And you would want to get the impurities out, so you could have pure gold. So, your gold would be put through the “refiner’s fire” if you will. And when your piece of gold is placed in the fire, the impurities will begin to separate from the gold, and they rise up, so the goldsmith can just skim them off. And Zechariah uses this metaphor because God does a very similar thing with our faith when it is tested by trials or by persecution… The refiner’s fire will cause the impurities in your faith to rise to the surface. Until we’re tested by the fire, we can say that we trust and believe in Jesus, but there are just some things we trust and value more. For some of us it’s our status…or our career For others, it’s how you look For others, it’s your reputation or what people think of you For others, it’s how your family, or your kids, are superior to other people’s kids. But what if your faith in Jesus causes you to lose that job that you had built your whole identity around? What if your faith in Jesus ends up causing division in your family…the family that had looked so perfect to everyone else? See persecution, or suffering in general, is like a “refiner’s fire” Because it’s when we SUFFER… It’s when we lose our job, or our family starts falling apart, that we’re finally willing to drop to our knees and say, “Lord, I just can’t! I need your help! I can’t do this on my own!” The only time we’re willing to do that, is when? In the fire! And so what happens when you drop to your knees and you say, “Lord, I give you my kids! You change their lives. I can’t do it!” Or, “Lord, I have no idea now what will happen with my job…I put in your hands..” What happens when you say that? Those idols…those idols of self dependance…and success…and perfection… …they are the impurities that float up to the top… And then God can come in, and wipe them away. And it’s through the fire, it’s through suffering, that God is turning your faith into gold. And would a loving God do that? You bet He would. Because what does verse 9 of our passage says after the refinement? They will call on my name! Yes, on our knees, we will finally call! And it says, “And I will answer them” It’s there, on our knees, that we will meet God…in the fire. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, in the fire, we will look and see there is another in the fire with us. And His name is Jesus. The one who knows all about the pain of the fire! And so if suffering should come to your life, and if persecution should come to our nation… Know that God has a pattern for this, and God has plan for this. He is not crushing us, He is refining us. Don’t you, for a second, believe those false teachers who claim that God only works through blessing and prosperity. His best work was through suffering…on an old wooden cross. Where God allowed His own Son, to go through the fire of persecution. And yet out of that, out of the death of Jesus, the greatest of suffering, God brought the greatest of Good. So you trust in Him, no matter what. Let me pray. Copyright: David Sorn Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.