What 21st Century Christians Can Learn from Justin Martyr (Part 2)

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Yesterday we began to look at lessons we could learn from Justin Martyr’s defense of the faith in the second century. This should be of utmost importance to any Christian because live in a time where brothers and sisters around the world are dying for their faith and standing before judges for Christ’s sake. The majority of the unevangelized world lives in areas where it is illegal to preach the Gospel. If we are going to send missionaries there, they must be prepared to answer the authorities even when threatened with death. Justin provides some great lessons that won’t keep us from death but will inspire a generation to stand for Christ…

Lesson #2: I stand in behalf of all believers

Chapter 1: “I, Justin, the son of Priscus and grandson of Bacchius, natives of Flavia Neapolis in Palestine, present this address and petition in behalf of those of all nations who are unjustly hated and wantonly abused, myself being one of them.”

Whether there were many Christians present or not, Just recognized that there were thousands of believers in the empire for whom he stood. When he gave defense he defended them. The opposite side of the same coin is that when he stood, they stood with him. Justin didn’t consider his life his own but considered himself an ambassador for all born again Christians.

How does this knowledge affect my response?

Fear begins to enter our hearts when we stand before judges and kings thinking that we stand alone and that the only thing at steak is our own freedom and our own lives. No, the case against you is much greater and far reaching than that. The case against an individual Christian for his faith and preaching is a case against all Christians. So a Christian standing before a judge can have the confidence that he stands for all men. He can imagine all the churches and believers next to him. Though they may not be present, oh what joy there will be as they share their stories in heaven. The victories we gain in freedom we gain for all believers. The trials and persecutions we go through we go through with all believers.

What believers do I stand in judgement with?

This is not only believers in our country (as Justin spoke for believers in the Roman Empire) but for believers in other countries as well. Your testimony will inspire and challenge them. The change effected by your trial may affect other countries and governments in this world market. The fact that God has allowed you to stand before judges for his name’s sake is a great honor for he has chosen you a spokesman for all Christians in your country and the world! And not only that but Hebrews 11 connects all generations of persecuted believers. Could you imagine that the defense you give for Christ today will affect Christians for hundreds and maybe thousands of years to come! What a great honor.

Some verses to remember:

*Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. Phil. 1:7

*Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Heb. 13:3

*And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Heb. 11:36-40

*For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Heb. 10:34

*I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: Phil. 10

*Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: Col 4:3

*And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Phil 1:14

Some examples to remember:

*Fransisco Penzotti, the Italian preacher in Peru

*John Bunyon, the unlicensed English preacher

*Ignatius, the willing martyr of Antioch

*Marcellus, the faithful centurion of Tangier

*Richard Wurmbrand, the Romanian Jewish convert in prison 14 years

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What 21st Century Christians Can Learn from Justin Martyr (Part 1)

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I was blown away recently by the courage and wisdom of a Christian named Justin who lived under intense pressure for his faith about 1800 years ago. Over the last four years I have been discipling believers who have had to stand for their faith in front of judges and police officers on multiple occasions sometimes being threatened with prison and death. They have struggled with knowing how to respond correctly to charges and questions. We have gone over the book of Acts in detail with them to learn what to say from Peter and Paul. As I read Justin’s first apology I was amazed at the similarities of his circumstance. I was also amazed by the wisdom of his responses and the courage with which he spoke. For those of you who have to stand for your faith and for those of you who will disciple others to stand for their faith before rulers, the next six days we’ll look at six lessons we can learn from the apology of Justin.

Christian apologetics in the second century arose as a response to the widespread persecution under certain Roman Emporers such as Niro and Tajan. There were three reasons for this persecution from the Roman state.

  1. Christians appeared subversive and disloyal not participating “in the accepted expressions of political loyalty.”
  2. Beyond being hated by the rulers in power there was also “popular animosity” toward them as a result of their secretiveness.
  3. Their preaching and testimony often caused disturbances as in the well-known stories of Paul in Phillipi (Acts 17) and Ephesus (Acts 19).

This persecution caused a defense called an apology by Christians like Justin Martyr whose arguments remain with us today. Justin responded with the knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, the cunning of the Greek philosophers, and the conviction of a born again follower of Jesus Christ. In “The First Apology of Justin”, an argument presented to the Emperor Pius, his sons, and the Senate, Justin lays out sixty eight short chapters which serve as an incredible tool of imitation for Christians in persecuted areas of the world and those Christians who desire to reach the lost in those areas (which should be all Christians).

Lesson #1: You can kill but not hurt us

Justin begins where every witness for Christ must in chapter two when he says, “For as for us, we reckon that no evil can be done us, unless we be convicted as evil-doers or be proved to be wicked men; and you, you can kill, but not hurt us.”

What a man! I can only imagine the courage he inspired in the other believers who listened and then read his response to his accusations! I love it! You can kill us but not hurt us. I wonder how many times that would be repeated around the empire?

Where we must start as Christians is that the very worst men can do to us is to escort us into the presence of Jesus! We cannot begin to stand for our faith until we realize we are already dead. We cannot say with boldness what need to say as long as we are thinking of preserving our lives. The terrorist has no power over the believer who is impossible to terrorize. Terrorism is a strategy of Satan that the believer is impervious to because with Christ in us we fear no evil. When a Christian really comes to this kind of faith, then he is ready to start his defense.

Some verses to remember:

*For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. II Tim 1:7-8

*Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Heb. 13:3 & 6

*For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Phil. 1:21

*And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Matt 10:28-33

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Christ-less Messages from Christian Pulplits

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Americas Rabi

America's Rabi

Since returning to America on furlough, my heart has been oft broken by pulpits in our Baptist churches. I wrote over a month ago about how some Baptist preachers have only got the Gospel half right, meaning they preach salvation by grace and everything else by works.

Recently, I have been equally saddened and even angered by sermons preached in Independent Baptist churches that could have just as easily been taught at a synagogue or a mosque! Maybe you are shocked by this and if you are in a good, Christ-centered, Bible expositing church, then well you should be. Let me explain what I am talking about:

*Recently I heard a pastor preach about how to live a God-honoring life. His solution at the conclusion of the sermon was: read more good stuff, be around more good people, and do more good things!  I was shocked. I was angry. If you are a Christian then you understand why: Christ is the only way we can honor God! Christ is the only way we can “be good”! But this pastor cut and pasted a verse from Proverbs, a verse from Hebrews about church attendance, and a verse from Ephesians (out of context) and transformed the good news of the Gospel into a hopeless, Christ-less self-reform program!

*Today I was in a church where the pastor preached about how to raise your family according to Deut. 6:5-9. He had six points of instruction after using this Old Covenant passage as his springboard that looked something like this: 1. Read the Bible to your kids. 2. Pray with your kids. 3. Talk to your kids about God as they experience life. 4. Sing often. 5. Be committed to church. 6. Serve God with your kids at church.

It’s interesting that all of these pastors find a way to work in “church attendance” and “church service” into their sermons though it had nothing to do with the text they were preaching from…or should I say text that they started with. If you could change the word “church” for “mosque” or “synagogue” and exchange the word “Bible” with “Koran” or “Torah” then you could easily exchange their sermon with that of any major monotheistic preacher including some other cults not mentioned here! The message is the same: works for reformation to please God!

That, however, is not the Christian message. The Christian message has Christ as the end of the law (Rom 10:4). No message beginning in the Old Testament can be a Christian message unless it culminates in Christ. The Christian message has the new birth in Christ as being the beginning of change for the new creature (II Cor. 5:17) Any message that teaches how to change yourself through “doing” and not through “being in Christ” is as useless and worldly as any self-reform teaching by doctor Phil. “Doing” the law has not changed us only left us more hopeless after failing. Christ in us is our transformation. The Christian message has the Gospel of the cross as it’s power (Rom. 1:15)  and the blood shed on that cross as it’s sole cleansing agent of sin (Matt 26:28, Eph 1;7, Col. 1:14, Heb 9: 22) Any message that does not have as it’s power the Gospel is not a Christian message.

These are messages you can’t just substitute the name of another god or prophet for because no other god or prophet ever accomplished what Christ did on the cross nor taught what the New Testament teaches.

This is the “Shalom in the Home” generation that wants to use the good of all religions to make our lives better and learn how to “do life” together. But that is NOT the Christian message. I wonder how preachers whose job it is to study and preach the whole Bible miss the centrality of Christ, the cross, the Gospel, and his blood in any single message?

Check out this description of the popular TV program “Shalom in the Home” and ask yourself, “How does this line up with my church and the sermons from the church’s pulpit?”

Shalom in the Home is an American reality television series hosted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach that debuted on TLC on April 10, 2006. The weekly one-hour prime-time program attempts to help families overcome difficult problems. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach provides advice about relationships, marriage and parenting. In each episode he works with one family for ten days to help them come to terms with their problems and find the skills they need to improve.

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