Sermon Illustrations on Persecution

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Background

Christian Persecution & The Real Power

What is the witness of the church in times of persecution? The historical record demonstrates that persecutions of Christians were regular and prolific in the first centuries of the church, especially in the second and third centuries as the church began to spread significantly.

In 215 AD, Scapula, the leader of the Roman province of Carthage (modern day North Africa), led a campaign to to stop the spread of the church. The historian Tertullian wrote a four-page letter to the Roman administration to stop the torture and execution of everyday church members. One of Tertullian’s points, was that there were thousands of Christians in that region of North Africa. Was Scapula going to kill all of them? Instead of fighting back with weapons, Tertuallian offers to lead a protest at the seat of justice in Carthage, the place of justice for the Roman Empire.

“What will you make of so many thousands, of such a multitude of men and women, persons of every sex and every age and every rank, when they present themselves before you?” he inquires.

Scholar John Dickson comments:

Tertullian’s boldness is striking. Ancient Christians were not timid. They did not adopt a posture of peaceful resistance through a kind of slave mentality of the bullied. Nor was their religion an opiate that dulled them to social realities here and now. In fact, reading the early sources, it is clear they actually felt like they were the victors!

They believed that true power to change the world lay not in politics, the judiciary, or the military but in the message of Christ’s death and resurrection.

John Dickson, Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History, Zondervan, 2021.

Stories

Be of Good Comfort

Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, two men burned at the stake for their faith in Oxford in 1555. According to sources, as the flames leapt up, Latimer was heard to say calmly, “Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

Adapted by Stuart R. Strachan Jr.

Can it Be Called By Any Other Name?

At the beginning of the third century in North Africa, persecution of Christians broke out in Carthage. One of the catechumens taken into custody was Perpetua, a noblewoman still nursing her son. When she was first incarcerated, her father came to her begging her to renounce her faith for the sake of her family, for him, and for her infant son. In the midst of his begging, Perpetua pointed to a pitcher and said, “Father, do you see this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?” He replied that it was a pitcher, of course. Then Perpetua responded, “Can it be called by any other name than what it is?” When he said “No,” she continued, “Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.”

Douglas Weaver, A Cloud of Witnesses: Sermon Illustrations and Devotionals from the Christian Heritage, Smith & Helwys Publishing.

Christian Persecution & The Real Power

What is the witness of the church in times of persecution? The historical record demonstrates that persecutions of Christians were regular and prolific in the first centuries of the church, especially in the second and third centuries as the church began to spread significantly.

In 215 AD, Scapula, the leader of the Roman province of Carthage (modern day North Africa), led a campaign to to stop the spread of the church. The historian Tertullian wrote a four-page letter to the Roman administration to stop the torture and execution of everyday church members. One of Tertullian’s points, was that there were thousands of Christians in that region of North Africa. Was Scapula going to kill all of them? Instead of fighting back with weapons, Tertuallian offers to lead a protest at the seat of justice in Carthage, the place of justice for the Roman Empire.

“What will you make of so many thousands, of such a multitude of men and women, persons of every sex and every age and every rank, when they present themselves before you?” he inquires.

Scholar John Dickson comments:

Tertullian’s boldness is striking. Ancient Christians were not timid. They did not adopt a posture of peaceful resistance through a kind of slave mentality of the bullied. Nor was their religion an opiate that dulled them to social realities here and now. In fact, reading the early sources, it is clear they actually felt like they were the victors!

They believed that true power to change the world lay not in politics, the judiciary, or the military but in the message of Christ’s death and resurrection.

John Dickson, Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History, Zondervan, 2021.

Haters of Humanity?

Most of us are aware of various persecutions that took place during the first few centuries of the church’s existence. One particularly brutal local persecution took place during the reign of Nero, who was emperor from 37-68 AD. It began with a fire, which many believed Nero himself began in an attempt to lay hold of a piece of land. To dispel rumors of his own guilt, Nero blamed this young, seemingly fanatical religious group known as the Christians.

Their punishment was especially cruel. Those found guilty were convicted, not of starting a fire, but of “hating humanity,” and were punished by crucifixion, being torn by dogs, or being used as lights (by being burned to death) in Nero’s garden and the local circuses. Looking back, it’s hard not to see the true hater of humanity, whose gossip and lies were considered expedient, even if that meant innocent people would be put to death.

Stuart Strachan Jr.

The Spectacle in the Arena

The apostles were like a capstone spectacle in the arena, the supreme sacrifice to satisfy the bloodlust of the world. In their weakness, pain, and suffering, they become to this world just another form of public theater” (θέατρον). In reality, martyrs embraced their deaths with less drama.

Historians believe that early Christian martyrs slaughtered before throngs in the Colloseum welcomed death to the degree that it made their killings rather boring in comparison to the deplorables who begged for mercy and were shown none, or, more spectacularly, who fought with zest and zeal to defend their lives, in vain.

Christian composure in the face of death meant that the martyrs publicly rejected both the role of victor and the role of defeated foe—fearless in the face of death, they stood before the mobs and subverted the whole spectacle-making industry of Rome. Nevertheless, Christians were killed to satisfy bloodthirsty spectators. Historians believe that Nero had the apostle Paul beheaded in Rome during this post-fire rage against Christianity, doubtlessly staging Paul’s death as a bloody spectacle of its own.

Analogies

Can it Be Called By Any Other Name?

At the beginning of the third century in North Africa, persecution of Christians broke out in Carthage. One of the catechumens taken into custody was Perpetua, a noblewoman still nursing her son. When she was first incarcerated, her father came to her begging her to renounce her faith for the sake of her family, for him, and for her infant son. In the midst of his begging, Perpetua pointed to a pitcher and said, “Father, do you see this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?” He replied that it was a pitcher, of course. Then Perpetua responded, “Can it be called by any other name than what it is?” When he said “No,” she continued, “Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.”

Douglas Weaver, A Cloud of Witnesses: Sermon Illustrations and Devotionals from the Christian Heritage, Smith & Helwys Publishing.