What would you do....rejoice?

I want you all to think about something for a moment. How much would you do for Christ? How far would you go, how high would you climb, and in the case of the scripture I would like to consider, how much would you suffer for Christ. While reading Acts tonight, I came across an interesting story, the apostles had been preaching and doing their miracles following the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection and just as Jesus was, the apostles were also not making the Sanhedrin too happy. Just so you know, the Sanhedrin was made up of some pretty “high class” individuals, so they felt like they were pretty big, bad and in charge, so when someone or in this case people are against them, it doesn’t make them too happy. Well, the Sanhedrin had jailed the apostles because they had healed a man and were preaching on the temple grounds and all that good stuff, which, as I have already said, didn’t make the Sanhedrin happy, and of course what made them the angriest was the Name the apostles were preaching of and in, and that was of course Jesus the Christ. So they tried to order the apostles not to do that anymore, but the apostles said no way man, we don’t obey men, we obey God! Oh, by the way, all this can be found in Acts chapter 5. Well, as you can imagine that made the high priests pretty angry and pretty much were ready to kill all of the apostles. What happens next is pretty interesting though I think, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, was a pretty smart man, he told the others that hey, you remember those other guys who had followers and they were killed and all their followers were dispersed. Then he said to leave the apostles alone!! He said that if what they were doing was just human then they will fail, but if it was of God’s doing it wouldn’t fail and they would just end up fighting against God! So Gamaliel pretty much saved the apostles that night in a way…instead of killing them they brought them in and had them flogged. You may remember that Pilot had Jesus flogged too. A flogging is pretty serious; it is a Jewish penalty that involves a beating of 39 (“forty minus one”) lashes, and God only knows with what they used! We’re talking serious pain here, you may remember the portrayal the Passion of the Christ used for Jesus’ flogging, and it was most likely very similar for the apostles. But now look at verse 41 of chapter 5 with me, it says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Do you see that, they rejoiced! THEY REJOICED! Persecution of Christians isn’t so heavy the last time I checked in the area where I live, considering I attend a Christian college, but persecution of Christians is much more widespread than you realize. Everyday Christians are jailed and harassed and sometimes killed because of what they believe, and most importantly, who they believe in, the Name above all Names, the most High Jesus Christ, the Savior of all. I don’t think I’m even conveying through these words how amazed I am that they rejoiced and felt that they were worthy, that they were given the opportunity to suffer in the name of Christ. I don’t think I have ever really experienced deep suffering for what I believe in, but I pray that God will give me the strength to rejoice in my sufferings if/when they ever occur, and that I would be deserving enough suffer for my Lord, because after all, He did suffer ultimately for me and you. What a blessing it would be to have the opportunity to show my love for my Savior in a way He showed His love for me, though it could never be as amazing as what He did. Amen.

In Christ,
Adam