Do Christians Really Suffer in America?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Happy Monday.

00:00:06.120 | If you live in the prosperous West,

00:00:08.840 | you are blessed like very few people have ever been blessed

00:00:12.160 | in the history of the world.

00:00:13.600 | There's a glut of digital technologies that we have,

00:00:16.640 | like the chain of technology we're using right now

00:00:19.120 | to communicate with one another.

00:00:21.480 | More importantly, things like infant

00:00:23.400 | and child mortality rates are lower than ever.

00:00:27.180 | And life expectancy rates have peaked

00:00:29.280 | and are projected to keep rising.

00:00:31.500 | Here in America, few, if any people die of starvation.

00:00:36.180 | Famines are unheard of here.

00:00:38.760 | Motor vehicle fatalities have been in steep decline

00:00:41.480 | for the past 50 years, same with plane related deaths.

00:00:45.500 | Poverty rates in the States have plummeted

00:00:47.720 | in the past 50 years.

00:00:48.960 | National GDP continues to go up and to the right.

00:00:53.220 | Life is as safe as ever.

00:00:55.200 | We are some of the most comfortable people

00:00:56.940 | who have ever existed on this planet.

00:00:59.620 | And all these blessings together raise questions

00:01:01.640 | for Christians who are promised

00:01:03.260 | that they will suffer in this life.

00:01:06.260 | A listener named Marissa is trying to work all this out

00:01:10.260 | for herself.

00:01:11.100 | Hello, Pastor John.

00:01:12.100 | I'm leading a Bible study through First Peter right now.

00:01:14.420 | As you know, Peter makes it very clear

00:01:16.700 | that Christians will suffer, just as Christ did.

00:01:20.240 | I'm curious how we Christians suffer

00:01:22.240 | in a first world country like America,

00:01:24.780 | where we are not physically persecuted for our beliefs.

00:01:28.200 | I don't think I've ever really suffered

00:01:29.940 | for the sake of Christ.

00:01:31.800 | Feelings get hurt on social media.

00:01:33.680 | There's a cultural pushback, of course,

00:01:35.760 | but I've never lost anything of value in this world

00:01:39.040 | due to being a Christian.

00:01:41.880 | Does this make me a weak or a lazy Christian?

00:01:45.480 | Or should I simply thank God for the rare peace

00:01:48.000 | I have enjoyed in this age?

00:01:51.120 | Such an important question for those of us

00:01:55.100 | who live in what, without exaggeration,

00:01:58.760 | we could call the Disney world of the nations.

00:02:02.420 | Even the poor in America, by comparison,

00:02:07.280 | live in luxury compared to 600 million extremely poor people

00:02:13.600 | with no access to adequate food, shelter, medical care,

00:02:19.460 | clean water, education, not to mention the saving message

00:02:24.460 | of Jesus that they don't have access to.

00:02:27.320 | One of the reasons I live where I live

00:02:30.160 | in a poorer part of Minneapolis is because I dread

00:02:33.380 | becoming oblivious to the brokenness

00:02:38.000 | and the neediness of the world.

00:02:39.740 | So here are five things that I see in the Bible

00:02:45.060 | to give guidance to those of us who live

00:02:47.820 | in relative comfort and security and wealth.

00:02:51.580 | One, both Jesus and the apostles said

00:02:57.780 | that if we are faithful Christians,

00:03:01.140 | we will experience some measure of persecution

00:03:05.540 | and other kinds of suffering in the path of obedience.

00:03:09.160 | Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12,

00:03:12.860 | "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus

00:03:17.140 | "will be persecuted."

00:03:18.540 | They will be.

00:03:21.500 | Jesus said in Matthew 10, 25,

00:03:24.160 | "If you have called the master of the house Beelzebul,

00:03:27.240 | "how much more will they malign those of his household?"

00:03:31.220 | In John 15, 20, he said, "If they persecuted me,

00:03:37.420 | "they will also persecute you."

00:03:39.780 | And Paul taught in Acts 14, 22,

00:03:44.300 | that every new believer, through many tribulations,

00:03:48.900 | we must enter the kingdom of God.

00:03:53.020 | If we never taste any affliction or persecution

00:03:58.020 | or maligning for Christ's sake,

00:04:01.460 | we probably are not pressing into the darkness

00:04:05.540 | of the world for Christ as far as we should.

00:04:11.420 | Number two, Jesus calls us to a kind of death

00:04:16.420 | to our old selves into a new life of joyful self-denial.

00:04:21.960 | Not morose self-denial, not self-pitying,

00:04:29.160 | but joyful self-denial.

00:04:32.740 | Matthew 16, 24, "If anyone would come after me,

00:04:35.680 | "let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

00:04:41.100 | "For whoever would save his life will lose it,

00:04:43.140 | "and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

00:04:46.960 | So we don't just wait for others to persecute us

00:04:51.960 | and take away our pleasures and privileges and securities.

00:04:58.020 | Instead, we voluntarily make choices

00:05:03.140 | that deny ourselves some of these things,

00:05:07.540 | freely, willingly, joyfully,

00:05:10.020 | in order to serve others.

00:05:11.700 | Jesus said in Luke 6, 27, "Love your enemies.

00:05:15.760 | "Do good to those who hate you.

00:05:18.600 | "Bless those who curse you.

00:05:21.780 | "Pray for those who abuse you."

00:05:23.780 | Doing good, doing good, actually doing things good

00:05:29.780 | for those who hate you is costly.

00:05:34.660 | You might say it is a freely chosen embrace

00:05:39.060 | of being disliked.

00:05:40.720 | Whether it's outright persecution or not,

00:05:44.620 | it demands self-denial.

00:05:47.520 | Doing good to other people who don't like us is hard.

00:05:52.360 | It's costly.

00:05:54.220 | It's like persecution.

00:05:56.100 | It's like affliction.

00:05:57.540 | There is always someone to bless in this world,

00:06:01.740 | someone who doesn't like you,

00:06:04.500 | who would be easier not to bless.

00:06:07.440 | Number three.

00:06:09.120 | Paul said that he had learned not only how to be abased,

00:06:14.120 | but also how to abound.

00:06:17.280 | Philippians 4, 11, "I have learned in whatever situation

00:06:20.440 | "I am to be content.

00:06:22.740 | "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

00:06:27.740 | "In any and every circumstance,

00:06:30.480 | "I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger,

00:06:34.940 | "abundance and need.

00:06:37.700 | "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

00:06:40.640 | Paul did not say it was a sin to abound

00:06:46.340 | or a sin to face plenty.

00:06:50.300 | He said it takes a certain learning,

00:06:54.660 | a certain God-given secret not to sin when you face plenty,

00:07:00.660 | not to sin in need.

00:07:05.500 | And not only that, he said in 1 Timothy 4, verse four,

00:07:10.500 | "Everything created by God is good.

00:07:14.700 | "Nothing is to be rejected

00:07:16.540 | "if it is received with thanksgiving,

00:07:19.500 | "for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer."

00:07:23.940 | In other words, self-denial is not the only way

00:07:28.940 | we honor God with the good things of life.

00:07:32.500 | Thankful enjoyment is another way.

00:07:36.260 | 1 Timothy 6, 17, he said,

00:07:39.220 | "As for the rich in this age,

00:07:41.860 | "charge them not to be haughty,

00:07:44.780 | "nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches,

00:07:48.600 | "but on God, who richly provides us

00:07:51.620 | "with everything to enjoy.

00:07:53.540 | "They are to do good."

00:07:57.780 | I'm still quoting Paul now.

00:07:59.280 | "They are to do good, to be rich in good works,

00:08:03.560 | "to be generous and ready to share."

00:08:06.360 | So there is a Christ-exalting self-denial,

00:08:11.440 | and there is a Christ-exalting enjoyment of God's gifts.

00:08:17.840 | Number four, don't pursue pain.

00:08:23.400 | Pursue love, no matter the pain.

00:08:27.120 | Freely chosen self-denial or unchosen persecution

00:08:32.120 | is never an end in itself.

00:08:36.040 | The aim is love.

00:08:38.020 | Love bears all things, believes all things,

00:08:40.560 | hopes all things, endures all things.

00:08:44.320 | Love does no wrong to a neighbor.

00:08:46.620 | Love blesses, love prays, love does good, love serves.

00:08:51.360 | Therefore, love is a fulfilling of the law.

00:08:53.980 | Therefore, pursue love, love for people, not pain.

00:08:58.980 | There will be pain enough.

00:09:01.480 | And finally, number five,

00:09:04.220 | yes, God has given most of the developed countries,

00:09:10.380 | East and West, a season in these centuries,

00:09:15.780 | a season of spectacular wealth and leisure

00:09:21.820 | and comfort and health and peace and security.

00:09:26.820 | Why has he done that?

00:09:28.800 | What's the meaning of this providence?

00:09:30.960 | And I think the answer is in Psalm 67.

00:09:35.120 | May God be gracious to us and bless us

00:09:39.200 | and make his face to shine upon us,

00:09:42.440 | that, and here's the answer,

00:09:45.280 | that your way may be known on the earth,

00:09:49.680 | your saving power among all nations.

00:09:53.300 | The earth has yielded its increase.

00:09:55.260 | God, our God shall bless us.

00:09:58.040 | God shall bless us.

00:10:00.760 | And then he closes the Psalm by telling why.

00:10:04.140 | Why has he blessed us?

00:10:05.920 | Why will he bless us?

00:10:07.620 | Let all the ends of the earth fear him.

00:10:12.000 | God has made America and the West and parts of the East

00:10:19.120 | wealthy and healthy and secure

00:10:24.120 | so that we would not lay up treasures here on earth,

00:10:29.400 | but use our freedom and our wealth and our peace

00:10:33.960 | for the sake of reaching the nations

00:10:36.020 | with the message of salvation.

00:10:37.920 | Stand up for this.

00:10:40.560 | Stand up for this.

00:10:41.540 | Work for this and you will find enough resistance.

00:10:46.320 | You'll find it in yourself.

00:10:47.880 | You'll find it in your church.

00:10:51.480 | You'll find it in the world

00:10:53.240 | that you won't have to worry too much anymore

00:10:59.060 | that being a Christian is too easy.

00:11:02.240 | - So good.

00:11:04.240 | Psalm 67 is such a key text for us at Desiring God,

00:11:07.640 | especially verse four, "Let the nations be glad,"

00:11:10.900 | which is the title of a book,

00:11:12.160 | a book on missions by you, Pastor John.

00:11:14.080 | Fascinating to hear the text more fully expounded

00:11:17.200 | and especially within the abundance context.

00:11:20.760 | Really interesting.

00:11:21.880 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:11:23.280 | And thanks for joining us today.

00:11:24.480 | If you want to ask Pastor John,

00:11:27.120 | email your question to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:11:31.240 | Well, John Piper has preached a couple thousand sermons

00:11:36.040 | in front of a few hundred thousand people around the world.

00:11:40.200 | Only the Lord knows the true count.

00:11:42.720 | Whatever the exact numbers is a lot of sermons

00:11:45.480 | in front of a lot of people.

00:11:48.220 | And a young preacher wants to know

00:11:50.000 | how your preaching has been critiqued over the years,

00:11:52.680 | Pastor John.

00:11:53.760 | He has been critiqued in 10 ways to stand out.

00:11:57.040 | And we'll walk through those next time.

00:11:59.240 | 10 criticisms of John Piper's preaching.

00:12:02.400 | I'm your host Tony Reike.

00:12:03.560 | I'll see you back here on Thursday.

00:12:05.280 | (upbeat music)

00:12:07.860 | (upbeat music)

00:12:10.440 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Do Christians Really Suffer in America?

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