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The Martyrdom of James
By
Rev. Todd
W. Allen
Villa Rica
7/20/03
Acts
11:27-12:4
Not
long ago at a high school, three military
recruiters showed up to address some high
school seniors. Graduation was only a few
months away, and the military men were
there for the obvious--to articulate to
these graduating young men and women some
of the options that military service would
provide them. The meeting was to last
forty-five minutes. Each
recruiter--representing Army, Navy, and
Marine Corps--was to have fifteen minutes.
Well,
the Army and Navy recruiters got carried
away. When it came time for the Marine to
speak, he had two minutes. So he walked up
with two minutes to make his pitch. He
stood utterly silent for a full sixty
seconds--half of his time. Then he said
this:
"I doubt whether there are two or three of
you in this room who could even cut it in
the Marine Corps. I want to see those two
or three immediately in the dining hall
when we are dismissed." He turned
smartly and sat down. When he arrived in
the dining hall, those students interested
in the Marines were a mob. They acted
without delay. He appealed to the
courageous and noble challenge of
difficult and dangerous service rather
than an easy berth. Certainly becoming a
Christian means taking up your cross to
follow him to endure hardship, persecution
and even martyrdom for his cause and
kingdom..
Persecution began with the crucifixion of
Christ and the martyrdom of Stephen.
Following the martyrdom of Stephen and the
ensuing Jewish persecution many of the
disciples scattered from
Jerusalem.
We learn in Acts chapter 11 how God used
the persecution to spread the gospel
beyond Jerusalem. This led to the gospel
being preached in Cypress and Cyrene to
the Gentiles and we see the formation of a
church at Antioch that became a flagship
church for the spread of Christianity to
the rest of the Roman Empire. We also
learn that the people of God were first
called Christians at Antioch.
As
mentioned in a previous sermon this city
became the launch pad for the mission
outreach to the entire Roman Empire. It
became the sending church for Paul and
Barnabus as they began Paul's first
missionary journey
I.
Prophesy By Agabus
A. The
Lord chose this particular time and place
to give a prophecy by a man named Agabus
that a famine was coming throughout the
world - Vs. 28. We are not left in any
doubt about the fulfillment of the
prophecy for in that same verse we are
told that the famine came to pass in the
reign of Claudius.
God by
this prophecy informed the church of a
coming trial. All of God's appointments of
hardships are intended for some ultimate
good. In this case it provided an
opportunity for the Church to express its
faith by a very practical means, namely,
that of sending relief to other Christians
in need. Beside that we really don't know
how God may have used the famine to
prepare many hearts and souls for the
gospel.
When men
are well fed and prosperous they are prone
to pride and complacency and seem to be
dull of hearing.
In Florida
we had an aquarium in our home and it was
interesting to observe the tropical fish.
I noticed that when the fish were hungry
they were alert and active. When the food
was sprinkled in the tank they would swim
frantically to the top of the tank to feed
and get their share. But after feeding
they were no longer as alert and active.
Isn’t that
the way we are too? When all is going well
and we have plenty to eat we are prone to
be relaxed and less interested in
spiritual things. But when we face
hardship or danger, hunger or famine and
can see no way to meet the need ourselves
we look up, just as those tropical fish
did to get help from above.
God in his
infinite wisdom knows that men need to be
given an appetite for spiritual things by
allowing economic and material lack. Men
look up to God for help when all else
fails and they lose hope in their own
ability to meet some pressing need.
Can we not
say that God sent this famine for the good
end that men might be more open to seek
help from heaven and be more open to the
gospel?
The
Atlanta Union Mission uses this approach.
Hungry men and women can go to the mission
and get a free meal but they will be asked
to attend a worship service and hear a
gospel message. They never would have gone
into the mission unless they were hungry.
No doubt God uses famine to enable his
church to help alleviate the need but also
to spread His Word and allow the gospel to
get a hearing.
B. But
please note that God gave this prophecy to
the church at Antioch, not to the church
at Jerusalem. Why do you suppose he did
that? He might just as easily have given
the prophecy to the apostles at Jerusalem,
but he did not choose to do that.
The
church at Antioch became the first church
to truly represent Gentile believers. So
it was most appropriate that the Gentile
Christians should show their appreciation
to the Jewish brethren who had given them
the gospel by taking up a relief offering
for those who were impoverished by the
persecution at Jerusalem and by the
famine.
The
gospel had flowed to the Gentiles from the
land of
Judea
and now the Gentile recipients of the
gospel will send back material relief to
the Jewish brethren who had suffered for
sending them the gospel.
C. God
always provides for his people, and that
provision is best supplied by his own
people. We are the body of Christ and we
are to minister to one another. When one
part of the body suffers we all suffer. So
we are to take it to heart when Christians
suffer anywhere in the world.
Here is
the first instance in the New Testament of
Non-Jewish
believers sending relief to Jewish
believers who desperately needed help.
This recorded event teaches us that we
have an obligation to minister relief,
especially to those of the household of
faith. The Church was the agency by which
this relief was provided. This passage
tells us something about how we are to
distribute relief to others.
In America
the government has become the dispenser of
relief. We depend on big government to
take care of the poor and suffering. But
in the early church it was the church that
ministered relief.
D.
Finally, the principle for giving is here
given --
In
proportion that any of the disciples had
means, each of them determined to send a
contribution for the relief of the
brethren living in
Judea.
Acts 11:29 (NASB)
We give,
as we are able, according to our ability
or means. For some that would be more than
others. But the church did feel an
obligation and responsibility to share on
a voluntary basis with other brethren in
need.
II.
The Martyrdom of James
The church
is about to undertake the task of
evangelizing the world. How exciting! How
wonderful!
The world
is in a hopeless state but the Lord has
come with salvation. There is a remedy for
sin and death. Man can be saved from sin's
power and penalty. But the task of
evangelizing the world is formidable
indeed. Men do not want to hear the
gospel. Men are devoted to their sins and
do not wish to be disturbed. Not only that
-- there is an enemy who will do anything
he can to stop the gospel from being
preached. Satan has declared war on the
church and like it or not we are in it.
(Rev. 12:17)
The
persecution had already commenced at
Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders had opposed
Christ and now they are opposed to his
followers. This was not something secret.
Everyone in those days knew how the Jewish
hierarchy felt about Christianity.
A. Herod
Agrippa succeeded his grandfather, Herod
the Great. Like his grandfather he was
cruel, bloodthirsty, vain, and fond of
magnificent display. He was of a
persecuting disposition. Add to all of
this his knowledge that the Jewish
leadership was against the Christian
Church and you have a man ready to add the
power of the state to the persecution with
a vengeance.
B. We read
that Herod had James killed with the
sword. You will recall that both John and
James had gone to the Lord Jesus and asked
him for a chief place in his kingdom. In
fact, to be precise, they said to the
Lord,
“Grant
that we may sit, one on Your right and one
on Your left, in Your glory.” Mark
10:37
(NASB)
Obviously,
James and John wanted to be the closest
men to Jesus in His glory. Think about
their request for a moment. They must have
felt that they were already very close to
him to make such a request. And isn't that
the way the Lord makes you feel? He is the
best friend you have. He treats you like
you are the most important person in the
world to him. The minute you believe in
him he is your glad and close friend.
Their
request also tells us that they had great
confidence in the Lordship of Christ and
his coming kingdom. Their faith was quite
strong to be able to go to him with such a
request. But their request angered the
other disciples. We read in Mark 10:41
that upon hearing this, the ten began to
feel indignant toward James and John.
The Lord's
answer to their request also sheds some
light on the martyrdom of James. Jesus
said to James and John at the time of
their request:
“You do not know what you are asking. Are
you able to drink the cup that I drink, or
to be baptized with the baptism with which
I am baptized?” 39They said to
Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to
them, “The cup that I drink you shall
drink; and you shall be baptized with the
baptism with which I am baptized. 40“But
to sit on My right or on My left,
this is not Mine to give; but it is for
those for whom it has been prepared.”
Mark 10:38 - 40 (NASB)
Remembering Christ's words we should not
be
surprised
that James, John’s elder brother and a
relative of our Lord; for his mother
Salome was cousin to the Virgin Mary,
became the second martyr after Stephen and
the first apostle to be martyred, just ten
years after his Lord had been crucified.
He was
baptized with the same baptism as our Lord
for he died at the hands of the ruler of
the Jews. The Jews were pleased that he
was put to death. James was killed by a
Herod the same way John the Baptist had
been killed, by cutting off his head with
a sword.
If time
permitted I would spend some time talking
about how one sin leads to another sin.
Herod, having taken the first step of
unrighteous and improper use of his
authority in having put James to death,
now adds to that sin the sin of arresting
Peter merely because he saw that the thing
he had done to James pleased the Jews. He
no doubt intended to do the same thing to
Peter he had done to James as soon as the
Passover observance was ended.
The truth
can be stated that sin adds to sin. When
a person commits one sin unless he repents
he will add to the first sin a second
similar sin. And his progress in sin will
continue to more and greater sins.
We can
understand the crisis facing the fledgling
church. James was one of the foremost
apostles and now he is dead. Peter is
regarded as the other important apostolic
leader, so Herod Agrippa intends to strike
at him next. But this time the result will
be different, as we shall see next time.
Stephen was the first
Christian martyr and James is the second.
Since that time millions of Christians
have been persecuted and martyred and are
still being persecuted and martyred. For
example, I daily receive emails about
Christians who are suffering from Ed
Gleason who preached here one Sunday in my
absence. Here are a couple of instances of
persecution now going on.
Gaza and the West Bank
- Life is
difficult for Palestinian Christians who
live in
Gaza or along the west bank of the Jordan
River. Any Palestinians open to a peaceful
coexistence with the nation of Israel risk
being brutally murdered by Palestinian
terrorists for being viewed as traitors.
The lives of Palestinian Christians are
threatened for both political and
religious reasons because they typically
do not support acts of terrorism, and
because they are considered deserters from
Islam. Remember and pray for Palestinian
Christians whose
numbers are small
and who are often overlooked and forgotten
by the rest of the world.
China
- Continue to pray for Gong Shengliang, a
Chinese pastor mentioned earlier in these
updates. Gong was falsely accused of rape
based on fabricated confessions extracted
from four women under torture. A fifth
woman, Zhongyu Yu, died under torture at
age 27 after refusing to falsely accuse
Gong. The four women who did accuse Gong
were later rearrested and sentenced to
three years of hard labor. Gong is
currently bedridden suffering internal
injuries, loss of hearing in one ear, and
occasional unconsciousness, all resulting
from torture, and his family has been
denied access to him. Pray for God to be
honored in the suffering and testimony of
this faithful servant, and for Gong’s
healing and release.
Iraq
- Formerly oppressed Muslim minorities are
now aggressively persecuting Iraqi
Christians. Christians have been
threatened and sometimes murdered while
being denied protection by coalition
forces. Pray that Iraqi believers will
remain faithful and that they will be
protected. Pray also for the conversion of
their Muslim persecutors. 6-21-03
Let me
close this message by asking, are you
numbered among the redeemed of the Lord?
Have you heard the gospel of Christ’s
sacrificial atoning death for you and me
and have you received him into your heart
as your own personal Savior and Lord? Do
it today. He will do for you what he has
done for others. Let your life be a living
sacrifice for him who died for you.
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The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
are made freely available for review and
distribution. We only request that proper
web page attribution be provided if
distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word. |