During the summer our church, in lieu of Wednesday night activities, has small group gatherings called 242: Sharing Life Together groups. Each week these small groups meet and discuss the sermon from the previous Sunday morning. The basis for these groups is found in Acts 2:42, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." The Bible goes on to say that as a result of the church's actions the Lord came upon them and united them and grew their numbers. I can't stress enough how great these small groups have been. In a church the size of ours, it is impossible to get to know everyone. Small groups give you the chance to get to know other members of the church body on a personal basis. They also provide a means of spiritual growth and accountability.
Last week in our 242 group, we were discussing how Jesus said that the world will hate us because of our following Him. We discussed why this happens and how Jesus says that we are to be comforted in the fact that this hatred has come upon us because He was hated too. I have always wondered why it is that Christ is so controversial. It never fails, any time the church, God or Christ is mentioned the world shuns it. How can it be that the world would hate someone and something so loving and gracious as Christ? That has always blown my mind. Bro. Jeff explained it perfectly in his sermon we were discussing. He said that Christ is the light of the world. What does light do? It exposes the darkness. Christ exposes the darkness in our lives resulting in conviction. That makes us uncomfortable and therefore, we react one of two ways. We acknowledge this darkness, or sin, confess it and repent or we do nothing. Doing nothing just causes us to become bitter and angry and drives us further and further from God. As a result, we become overtaken by our sin and turn from from God and live accordingly. This is where our world is. Christ convicts and makes us feel uncomfortable and when we don't embrace Him, we reject him.
Following Christ is no easy task. It never has been and never will be, but it is something I will do. The fact of the matter is that Christians are under attack. Satan is out to destroy anything that glorifies God. That includes us. It happens to all of us who follow Christ. We all have the same struggles and are under the same attack. This was reaffirmed to me last week during our 242 group. In our discussion time a couple talked about how Satan has attacked them because of their decision to follow Christ by adopting a child of another race from another country. They truly feel it is God's calling on their lives to adopt this child. God has opened and closed doors in this process, but they have resolved that this is indeed God's will for their lives. It hasn't been easy on them. Satan has attacked them on so many levels. He has attacked them with their friends, their community, and even their families, but they press on towards the calling God has laid before them. It was in that moment that I realized that we all have struggles like this, they are just from different perspectives.
Five years ago Mollie and I got involved with the creation of a Christian school. We believed and still believe it is God's will for us to be involved with it. This, just like anything else you do for Christ, hasn't been easy. Just like our friends, Satan has attacked us with everything he could possibly use. It seems as if the world is against us and truthfully, according to Christ, it is. A lot of our friends don't support us. Most of our family members don't support us. Our church doesn't support us. Satan has even led employees to attack us. The evil one has used all of this to discourage us from following Christ, but we press on because that is what Christ commands us to do.
My point is this, as Christians or Christ followers, the world will HATE us. They won't approve of what we do and what we stand for. Christ tells us that the world hated him first and we can take comfort in that. He goes on to say that we are called out of the world to follow Him and so the world will hate us too. That is OK. We can take comfort in this because we know that in the end GOD WINS. We will constantly be on the attack. Satan will stop at nothing to destroy anything that glorifies God, including us. That must not keep us from obeying and following Christ. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. That will happen. Until that time comes, we must press on and keep fighting the good fight. Christ is worth it!!
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