James 5:10-11

NIV: Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

The Message: Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honouring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

There are numerous examples in the bible of prophets who suffered for their faith and trust in God.  In the Old Testament you have (according to Wikipedia):

•  Isaiah, who was allegedly sawn in two (definitely not nice) by Manasseh;
• Jeremiah who was stoned to death;
• Ezekiel who was martyred;
• Amos, tortured by Amaziah and then killed by Amaziah's son;
• Zechariah, killed by Joash.

I am sure there are others too who were killed for their faith.  In addition to those old testament prophets, you also have:

• John the Baptist, who was beheaded;
• Stephen, the first Christian martyr; and
•  all the apostles (except Judas and John) who were killed for their faith.

But more Christians have been killed for their faith in the last century than at any other time in the two thousand years since Jesus' death and resurrection.  What does that tell you about man, and about how the devil must fear God? 

You would think that after two thousand years, a faith might be dying out, that people would forget, turn to other faiths, other religions, other ways of life.  But apparently something like one third of the entire world believe in Jesus and Christianity is growing at an amazing rate.  In India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Eritrea, Nigeria, and other countries, places where the church is under attack, suffering persecution, the church is growing in leaps and bounds.  Just compare that to here in the west with declining church numbers.

But persecution is coming here too.  Here in the UK earlier this week, there was a case in the High Court where a married couple sought to have the local council decision to refuse to allow them to be foster parents overturned.  The couple had told the council that as bible believing Christians, they were unable to promote homosexuality to children in their care.  The Equality and Human Rights Commission made a submission to the court advising that children risked being infected with Christian moral beliefs.  The judges took this into consideration and in their summary, stated that  Christian beliefs on sexual ethics may be inimical (i.e. harmful) to children.  Further details can be found here.

I find this absolutely unbelievable when our entire legal system is based on Christian morals and beliefs and is a scary foretaste of what is potentially to come here in the UK.

Back in the days of James, Christians were facing the lion's den, stoning, beatings, imprisonment, harassment.  There were apparently around 2,000 Christians who dies as a result of Jewish persecution but this pales into insignificance when compared to the persecution by the Romans.  But all the deaths in past years are nothing compared to the millions who have been killed in the last century.  If anything, persecution is getting worse.

So James is telling the early Christians, and us, to have patience, to look at the example of those who have gone before us and learn from their attitude, their behaviour.  Their focus was on God, first and foremost, no matter what was happening to them.  Just look at Isaiah who went naked for three years in obedience to God, or Hosea who was instructed to marry a prostitute .  Then there was Jeremiah who was so grieved at the state of Israel and what was going to happen that he became known as the weeping prophet.  But each one of them obeyed God, just as we are instructed to do. 

It is a case of having a close walk with God, of getting our hearts right with Him so that we face each day fully clothed ion the armour of god, ready to face whatever may be thrown at us, and to stand strong and upright in the strength and power of God.  Not in our own strength, but in God's power and might, using His word, His armour, and calling on the name of Jesus , for greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.