Sermon “Mourning for Jerusalem”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
We gather today to remember our brother, Stephen, the one whose name means “crown” and who was a crown of glory for our Lord and Savior. Stephen, a person very much like you and me, followed Jesus and proclaimed that Jesus was the lord of all. He proclaimed salvation only through faith on Jesus' finished work on the cross. What did Stephen get for it? He is remembered today as the first martyr of the Christian period. He is the first person we have recorded who lost his life for his testimony of Christ.
I hesitate to say this in a day when we try to make Christianity attractive to people, but it needs to be said. Things have not gotten a whole lot better for those who believe on Christ. To this day we see persecutions directed against Christians. In fact, in many places of the world, this is a very dangerous generation to live for Jesus. I wonder how many of us realize the picture of this situation which is found in international politics in the founding of the newest country on the planet, South Sudan. The southern Sudanese people are predominantly Christian. Those in the north are predominantly Islamic. And the northerners, in the part of the country which had the political capitol, tend to be of the militant type of Islam which strives to impose religious rule over everybody. The people in the southern part of the country were given two options. They could covert or they would be plundered and killed. It was a dangerous situation. This dangerous situation was made more complicated by the frequent efforts of the southern Sudanese to evangelize in the northern part of the country. The Gospel of Christ, the proclamation of Jesus' perfect life, death, and resurrection on our behalf, the message of salvation by grace through faith, this was such a powerful motivator that the Sudanese Christians were effectively giving their lives to follow Jesus.
In the past year there was another move, but it's one which you probably never read about in the newspaper or heard about on the television or radio news. The people of southern Sudan formed their own government and seceded from the rest of the country. This move was not without cost, both in finances, political capital, and lives of combatants in disputed territories. Yet we now have a republic of southern Sudan, which attempts to be a safe haven for Christians. They are still persecuted. They are still under attack from their neighbor to the north, as well as neighbors around them. Yet they are still standing.
That's a story of a victory. There are also stories of defeats. The last hundred years have been the most dangerous in history for Christians. Our world rejects Jesus' work on its behalf. Our cultures want to make their own truth instead of trusting that Jesus is the way, the life, and the truth. Our society has pushed Jesus away, though he has longed to shelter us and care for us. Yet where people refuse to trust in themselves, where people refuse to push Jesus away, we see that we can stand, like Stephen stood, firmly holding the Gospel, God's good news that he has dealt with sin and that we can enter eternity with no fear. In this country, at least for now, we are able to take that stand in safety. There may come a time when it is more dangerous. Yet, as with Stephen, we also are perfectly safe from all harm in the hands of our Savior. We can stand with him, proclaiming Jesus as the savior, knowing that even if people should choose to take our lives we will still live on in the blessed protection and salvation of Christ's perfect death on our behalf.
May the Lord bless us to hear him, to trust him, to let him shelter us according to his desire. Amen.
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