Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself.
Remember also those being mistreated,
as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
Hebrews 13:3, NLT
More than 365 million Christians now live in areas where they may be severely persecuted—murdered, tortured, raped, falsely imprisoned, enslaved, trafficked, forced to leave their homes, denied employment, and denied education for their children—just because they believe in Jesus (see World Watch). Even though Christian persecution is the greatest crime against humanity on planet earth, if you’re like me and live in the West, you too may find it difficult to “remember those” who suffer for Christ “as if you were there.”
The New Testament was written with the tears and blood of Christians.
As I pondered why I don’t always remember our suffering brothers and sisters, the Lord showed me that we fail to remember them in part because we read the New Testament out of its original context. The New Testament was written with the tears and blood of Christians at a time when the normal Christian life was defined by suffering and loss. But today in the West, our lens for reading scripture is distorted by our comfort and security, and we’ve misunderstood these teachings that, when read in context, will help us to remember the persecuted.
To literally give our all for the sake of fellow Christians doesn’t make sense when our worldview is limited by our comfort and security.
For example, the night before Jesus was crucified, He said “love one another just as I loved you” (John 15:12, NASB). He meant we are to love each other sacrificially, even to the point of laying down our lives for each other when necessary (see John 15:13, 1 John 3:16). This command to literally give our all for the sake of fellow Christians doesn’t make sense when our worldview is limited by our comfort and security. But it does make sense when we realize that we are one body with the 365 million Christians who live in the face of peril, and we are responsible for bearing their burdens (see Romans 12:5; Galatians 6:2).
Similarly, when we read the New Testament teachings to be hospitable, we might think about having friends over for dinner, which is a good thing. But we don’t understand that these teachings are commands to provide for believers who are refugees—having fled from persecution—who desperately need us to provide them with life-sustaining aid. This is critically relevant today, because in recent years Islamists in the Middle East and Africa have driven millions of Christians from their homes, and many are now starving without food or housing while hoping for our hospitality.
Peter, Paul, James, and John told us how we’re to love one another, but in the West these passages are often misunderstood, because they are taken out of their persecution context. When reading these passages, we must remember that Peter, Paul, and James were martyred. In fact, all the apostles were brutally murdered except John. And when John wrote the Revelation, he referred to himself as a “companion in the suffering...” (Revelation 1:9, NIV) because by then he had endured decades of persecution.
We must also keep in mind that the Roman Empire outlawed Christianity and they savagely murdered many of the early church members. They really did dip them in tar and tie them to poles and set them on fire as streetlights. And they fed Christians to lions for entertainment.
We should also remember that our beloved apostle Paul, who wrote almost half of the New Testament books, said that he was imprisoned and beaten so many times that he lost count. But he did remember that he was tortured five separate times with the nearly fatal thirty-nine lashes; beaten with rods three times; and stoned and left for dead once (see 2 Corinthians 11:23–28). And many of his letters, which we love to read, were written to those who were persecuted.
We must not forget that Peter and James addressed their letters to Christian refugees—those who were forced to leave their homes after Stephen was stoned. You may recall that “when Stephen was martyred a great persecution began…and they were all scattered” (Acts 7:59–8:1, NASB). This is one of the most important events in first century church history, and, if we are not careful, we can miss its significance.
When Stephen died, there were an estimated ten to twenty thousand or more adult believers. Imagine the hardships they suffered when as many as fifty thousand people, when you include their children, were forced to immediately leave their homes, extended families, communities, and livelihoods. All they had was the clothes on their backs and anything they could carry, gathered in haste, and they had no one to help them. Their extended families and communities disowned them. The Romans didn’t help them, and they didn’t have support organizations like the United Nations. They only had other Christians who were willing to obey Jesus’ radical new command to sacrificially care for each other.
Peter later wrote in his first letter, “Above all things have fervent love for one another” (1 Peter 4:8, NKJV),that caring for the persecuted should be our highest priority. We know this because Peter addressed his letter to the Christian refugees (see 1 Peter 1:1). And he wrote it when Nero was the emperor, and the Romans were torturing and slaughtering Christians in record numbers. This explains why Peter wrote about both love and persecution in every chapter of the letter. Peter also gave us the application starting in the following verse when he wrote, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9, NIV).
In Nigeria more than 100,000 Christian widows and orphans are now struggling to survive because their husbands and fathers were murdered for Christ’s sake.
Some believe that James wrote his letter to those who were persecuted and forced to leave their homes (an interpretation of James 1:1). When he wrote about brothers and sisters who lacked food and clothing, he may have been referring to Christian refugees (see James 2:15). When he wrote, “faith without works is dead,” he might have been addressing those in the church who weren’t caring for their persecuted family (James 2:17). And when he wrote that true religion is caring for widows and orphans (see James 1:27), he may also have been referring to those whose fathers and husbands had been martyred. Regardless of the interpretation of James, this is relevant and important today because in Nigeria more than 100,000 Christian widows and orphans are now struggling to survive because their husbands and fathers were murdered for Christ’s sake.
When Paul wrote Second Corinthians 8–9, which is the most comprehensive teaching and example of Christian giving in the Bible, he wrote it specifically to raise money to help needy fellow believers in a foreign land (see 2 Corinthians 8:4, 9:1). You may recall that in this passage, Paul said the severely impoverished Macedonians were begging to give money to help their suffering brothers and sisters (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-4). This is the context and spirit of most Christian giving described in the Bible!
Most of the teachings and examples of Christian giving in the Bible direct us to help poor and persecuted believers.
In the New Testament 426 verses were written to direct our giving. When we read these verses in context, we find that 281 of them are about helping poor, persecuted Christians. Based on the verse count, most of the teachings and examples of Christian giving in the Bible direct us to help poor and persecuted believers. I was surprised when I learned this, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have been. After all, even Paul’s instruction to gather weekly church collections was to help them (see 1 Corinthians 16:1-2)!
People often ask if helping Jesus’ needy followers is different from helping other needy people. While Jesus taught us to love and care for all people, He also taught us that His brothers and sisters are a priority. This is why the apostle Paul wrote, “Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).
When I asked the Lord to help me understand this, He reminded me of Saul, before he became Paul, and he was on his way to torture, kill, and imprison Christians. He was blinded by a bright light, and a voice said to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” When Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” the voice replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” (Acts 9:3-5, NASB). This teaches us that those who persecute Christians are really persecuting Jesus.
When we care for persecuted believers, we are really caring for Jesus!
In the same way, when we care for persecuted believers, we are really caring for Jesus! This is why Jesus taught that, when we care for the least of His brothers and sisters, we are caring for Him (see Matthew 25:40). And, when we forget to care for the persecuted, we are forgetting to care for Jesus! Therefore, Jesus also taught that whatever we don’t do for the least of His brothers and sisters, we’re failing to do for Him (see Matthew 25:45).
How we remember and respond to the persecuted reveals our response to Jesus Christ.
This is why I wrote the book Heirloom Love: Authentic Christianity in This Age of Persecution, which provides a biblical framework for understanding and responding to today’s persecution.
Dominic Sputo is a former businessman and pastor. He is the founder of The Alliance for Persecuted Christians and author of Heirlooom Love. He believes in teaching truth and inspiring love to awaken and mobilize Jesus followers to remember and care for their persecuted brothers and sisters so that the world might know that Jesus is the Son of God.
The views expressed in this or any other opinion article do not necessarily reflect the views of Christian Daily International.
