Rejoice In Suffering

Acts 5:41

“So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

Notice in v. 40 that the apostles were physically beaten and released as the Council followed Gamaliel’s advice. Years ago I underlined v. 41 in my Bible because it reveals to me the attitude I should have when I feel rejected or persecuted for sharing the Gospel. As we learned before the apostles had been threatened with death if they continued to talk about Jesus and yet they remained faithful. Now we see that although they had been ordered to talk about Jesus no more “they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (v. 41) and rejoiced “that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” v. 40).

I don’t know what the future holds, but as I write this morning I am aware of continuing and increasing pressure in America to remove God from our society. Our freedoms are constantly being threatened and we need to stand strong in defense of them. Even in the school systems around us people are trying to remove any influence of God. Even elementary age children face pressure to sin against God especially through the use of drugs and sexual immorality. I pray daily that my grand-children would be able to reject those threats because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their life.

We still have much more freedom than other places in the world and we should not take that for granted. We have good churches all around us that are faithfully teaching the Bible. We have schools that are faithfully training men and women in the Christian faith. As I serve in leadership roles in church, at Dallas Theological Seminary and on a mission board I see Satan working hard to negatively impact or destroy those ministries, just as he was working through the Sadducees and Pharisees in this passage in Acts. It is critically important that we pray diligently for faithful ministries and also labor to protect the freedom to worship we enjoy.
I remember when my children were born in the sixties feeling fear for them because of the world into which they were born. I have since learned that God is in control and I can be assured that He will work out His best in our lives if we allow Him. Those of us who are older have a vital ministry in praying for our children and grand-children. We should be sensitive to His will and obedient to His desire for us to be faithful and rejoice that we are a part of His family.