One of the ministries I follow is called, “Voice of the Martyrs.” It’s an outreach and awareness ministry to help individuals and their families who are being persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for being followers of Jesus.
The key word here is “followers.”
Did you know that it’s perfectly fine to be a “fan” of Jesus in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Darfur, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, India, China, and other such countries? Sure, you can admire His teachings, call Him a prophet, throw a few accolades His way and even say that God had a little something to do with Him. All that’s fine…as long as you do not actually follow Him.
If you do, all bets are off. If you actually follow Jesus in these places then your very life won’t be worth two cents. You’ll have an invisible bounty on your head and your days will most likely be numbered. Some places are worse than others. For example, in Israel, you may be ostracized from the typical Jewish family for following Christ but in other places, like Somalia or Afghanistan, it could cost you everything–even your life.
Hard to imagine?
Click here to read about just one situation unfolding at this very moment. Not convinced? Here’s another, and another. Take your pick. I’ve got more–unfortunately, much, much more. I wish I didn’t have any, but sadly, there is no shortage of examples of persecution for being a Christ follower.
Why do I bring this up? Because this has made me frustrated over the years–even angry at times.
Shocked?
Didn’t think pastors were supposed to get angry? Jesus got angry—but that’s another post for another time. Anyway, I believe its righteous anger but it’s anger nonetheless. Let me explain…
You see, one thing I’ve always been very diligent about as a pastor is follow up with everyone who indicates that they bent the knee to Jesus Christ at one of our services. We want to help them take those all important first steps as a brand new believer so that they continue to grow into completely committed followers of Jesus Christ—rather than remaining flag waving, cheerleading, Latte drinking, pew sitting, fans.
Jesus doesn’t want fans.
He wants followers.
Well, in our follow up calls and visits we sometimes run into folks who will indicate a fairly strong resistance to Jesus…after having no problem whatsoever snagging a get out of Hell free card from Him! If this is going to surface it usually happens at the same point with people.
It happens when we mention, “baptism.”
Usually people are fired up about it. Sometimes they need to understand it better, but occasionally, they’re just not interested at all. When they aren’t interested they will respond something like…
- I’m not ready for that kind of commitment right now.
- That just seems a little weird to me that Jesus wants me to get dunked.
- I was already sprinkled as a baby.
- Hey, this was a private decision for me and I would rather keep it that way.
All of these break the heart of Jesus!
He became sin for us, was beaten, ridiculed, scorned and finally nailed to a cross in our place to pay a price (His sinless life for our sinful ones) that none of us could pay and yet some of us aren’t willing to get wet for 5 seconds?!
Seriously? When I hear excuses like this I find myself looking around for the cast of Saturday Night Live. Surely this is Candid Camera, right? A spoof, a joke? No one would really say baptism is “too much of a commitment” in obedience to the Lord who did all this for us, would they?
Yep, they would. They do it all the time—in churches all over…America, that is.
In other countries this isn’t even an issue—especially in countries where people are regularly persecuted for following Jesus. In places like Somalia, people realize that a decision to ‘accept Christ’ isn’t real unless one actually steps out for Christ. There isn’t such a thing as ‘undercover Christianity’ in these places. But here’s an interesting truth I was reminded of today.
Persecution seldom starts until an individual has ‘publicly professed Christ’ through baptism.
Why not?
Because no one considers it all that important to an individual who won’t even identify themselves. If you really believe that stuff (they reason)—why would you keep it to yourself?
Good point.
Today a pastor relayed to me of a baptism he did involving two teenage boys in the Sudan. They were so filled with joy! There was singing afterward and celebration—they could hardly contain themselves!
But, as the day wore on and the sun started to set, the pastor suggested to the two boys that they should get started back home.
They looked at each other rather sheepishly and then at him before responding….
“We’re not going home.”
“Why not?” the pastor asked—the day’s joy quickly receding to the background.
One of them spoke for both… “Because we would be killed. Once a person steps out and is baptized as a Christ follower—it is a death sentence. We can never go home again.” In fact, each had a small bag of belongings containing everything they had. Going home was never an option.
The pastor was shocked—shocked and somewhat ashamed. He immediately thought of how getting people to take the next step in America—to identify with Christ thorough baptism—is often like pulling teeth. How could this possibly be?
I’ll tell you how.
Fans.
Fans don’t follow.
May 17th @ Grace Community Church a ton of people will have the opportunity to identify with Christ as one or the other. For some it will be in simple obedience as they profess Him in baptism—for others it will be to blend back into the crowd and pretend all this Jesus stuff can be kept private.
I hope everyone choices the former, but I can’t make that decision for you. So, with one two weeks left before the celebration begins…have you decided which way you’re gonna go?
Fan or follower?