WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:03.898 Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and our Lord 00:03.914 --> 00:05.518 and Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:05.684 --> 00:06.590 Amen. 00:07.250 --> 00:09.994 The text is the text that was read earlier. 00:10.042 --> 00:12.480 So from Revelation, chapter six. 00:13.810 --> 00:18.942 Now, back before I became a prof at the seminary, I was invited to 00:18.996 --> 00:24.990 lecture in Ogbomosho, Nigeria on early African Christianity. 00:25.770 --> 00:29.522 As part of the lecture, I would have my students read various 00:29.586 --> 00:33.734 martyrdom accounts from ancient Africa, including the one about 00:33.932 --> 00:37.640 Perpetua and Felicitous that we are observing today. 00:38.490 --> 00:42.946 I was always amazed at how they got into their roles. When reading 00:42.978 --> 00:44.754 these early martyrdom accounts 00:44.802 --> 00:48.290 there is this back and forth that you have between the Roman 00:48.370 --> 00:53.166 proconsul and the Christians. Where the proconsul is reasoning with 00:53.188 --> 00:58.826 the Christians as to why it is in their best interest to just pinch 00:58.858 --> 01:02.560 some incense to the genius of the Emperor and then go on their way. 01:03.650 --> 01:04.846 No big deal. 01:05.028 --> 01:08.420 The procouncil would emphasize they weren't asking for much. 01:09.110 --> 01:14.050 In fact, the bar was set pretty low for honoring the gods of Rome. 01:14.390 --> 01:18.406 All you had to do was show up and do the bare minimum, pinch some 01:18.428 --> 01:20.360 incense, mumble a few words. 01:21.290 --> 01:25.270 Pretty easy unless you were a Christian. 01:26.410 --> 01:29.322 And my Nigerian students understood this very well. 01:29.376 --> 01:32.922 As I say, when they read their part of the dialogue, they didn't just 01:32.976 --> 01:37.020 read it, they shouted it, they lived it. 01:37.470 --> 01:44.286 I mean, when a martyr said in public, I am a Christian, he had 01:44.308 --> 01:49.934 basically signed his death warrant. Claiming the name Christian was 01:49.972 --> 01:51.434 enough to get you sentenced to death. 01:51.482 --> 01:55.346 And I had a conversation with one of these students after we had the 01:55.368 --> 01:58.130 class, who asked to speak to me in private. 01:58.710 --> 02:00.510 I could see he was upset. 02:00.670 --> 02:05.234 He wanted me to know that in Nigeria, the scenario we had just run 02:05.272 --> 02:09.717 through in class could be all too real, especially if you lived up in 02:09.723 --> 02:13.750 the north, or perhaps in Jos in the central part of Nigeria. 02:14.250 --> 02:17.822 He told me how he had been approached by Boko Haram. 02:17.986 --> 02:23.738 You're familiar with that group right there against the west group, I 02:23.744 --> 02:24.346 should say. 02:24.448 --> 02:30.330 The Boko Haram had come to his village, and these guys pointed at AK 47 02:30.400 --> 02:36.202 at his head and demanded that he recite the Shahada, the Muslim creed, 02:36.266 --> 02:39.950 which says, there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. 02:41.090 --> 02:46.286 Well, the student was able to recount this story to me, so maybe he 02:46.308 --> 02:47.006 did recite it. 02:47.028 --> 02:49.040 He didn't say and I didn't ask. 02:50.130 --> 02:53.326 But I realized that these historical texts we were reading were not 02:53.348 --> 02:54.160 just history. 02:55.050 --> 02:58.754 Martyrdom was still happening in the 21st century, and my African 02:58.802 --> 02:59.810 students had experienced it 03:00.250 --> 03:00.990 firsthand. 03:01.650 --> 03:05.306 And I had heard similar stories over the weekend when I was on a Zoom 03:05.338 --> 03:09.994 call with some of my Chinese colleagues. And they told me how pastors 03:10.042 --> 03:15.194 there were being arrested in China for committing fraud by accepting 03:15.242 --> 03:16.030 donations. 03:16.610 --> 03:19.806 It was fraud because they were considered an illegal church and 03:19.828 --> 03:22.302 therefore accepting donations was a criminal act. 03:22.356 --> 03:24.640 That's how the government is doing it these days. 03:25.690 --> 03:29.334 So I can hear these pastors, these students joining the saints under 03:29.372 --> 03:34.722 the altar in Revelation in that same loud voice, how long, O Lord, 03:34.786 --> 03:38.406 holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on 03:38.428 --> 03:40.170 those who dwell on the earth? 03:41.710 --> 03:44.090 That is the cry of the martyrs. 03:44.510 --> 03:48.054 And the story of Perpetuate Felicitas is another one of those martyr 03:48.102 --> 03:51.514 stories, and it should be disturbing to anyone who has heard of read 03:51.552 --> 03:52.250 the story. 03:52.400 --> 03:53.694 I don't know if you know it or not 03:53.732 --> 03:55.374 it's online, you can find it there. 03:55.412 --> 03:58.079 But let me also pause here for a second. 03:59.650 --> 04:02.480 This is a story about two women. 04:03.730 --> 04:07.186 Women in the early church were often the ones who were asked to lay 04:07.208 --> 04:12.046 down their lives for their Lord, which they did faithfully, including 04:12.078 --> 04:15.218 two deaconess who were interrogated and tortured by Pliny, the 04:15.224 --> 04:17.909 governor of Bethania at the end of the first century. 04:18.329 --> 04:22.230 But today we hear about two more women who were thrown into prison 04:22.810 --> 04:26.210 awaiting their execution, along with some other Christians. 04:26.370 --> 04:28.514 And so one of them was named Perpetua 04:28.562 --> 04:31.100 she was probably around 22 years old. 04:31.550 --> 04:35.766 She was from the upper class of Roman society, and she had just gotten 04:35.798 --> 04:37.370 married and had an infant son 04:37.440 --> 04:38.890 she was still nursing. 04:39.870 --> 04:44.094 With her was a slave named Felicitous, who we also assume had just 04:44.132 --> 04:44.842 gotten married 04:44.906 --> 04:47.630 and she was pregnant there in jail. 04:48.130 --> 04:51.998 And to add insult to injury, Perpetua's father kept coming to the 04:52.004 --> 04:55.650 prison trying to get her to sacrifice to the gods. 04:55.990 --> 05:00.274 He would say, if not for herself, then for him, so she could take care 05:00.312 --> 05:00.626 of him. 05:00.648 --> 05:04.770 And if not for him, he would say, what about your baby? 05:05.370 --> 05:08.534 Why not for him, that newborn son? 05:08.652 --> 05:10.550 I mean, talk about pressure. 05:11.210 --> 05:15.762 Both women ended up in the arena and condemned to the beast 05:15.826 --> 05:16.546 damnatus est bestia 05:16.578 --> 05:20.726 in Latin. There was a heifer, a female cow who attacked them but 05:20.748 --> 05:22.380 didn't quite kill them off. 05:22.750 --> 05:25.498 So a Roman soldier ended up finishing the job. 05:25.584 --> 05:29.337 And the text says they rejoice that their names are written in the 05:29.344 --> 05:30.940 Book of Life. 05:31.789 --> 05:33.846 Now, that's the Cliff Notes version. 05:33.878 --> 05:37.120 It's quite a bit longer, but as I said, you can find that on your own. 05:38.050 --> 05:41.919 But I guess my question to you is, what do we do with this text? 05:42.530 --> 05:46.014 As I said, this was all too real for my Nigerian students and still 05:46.052 --> 05:48.000 for many Christians around the world. 05:48.690 --> 05:52.206 And the statistic is well known that more Christians died for their 05:52.228 --> 05:56.514 faith in the last century than died in all the previous centuries 05:56.562 --> 05:57.090 combined. 05:57.169 --> 05:59.460 But what does this have to do with you? 06:00.810 --> 06:03.454 What does this have to do with me, for that matter? 06:03.492 --> 06:06.346 Well, first of all, we should be praying for our brothers and sisters 06:06.378 --> 06:07.866 in persecuted churches. 06:07.978 --> 06:12.206 We should also try to help them where we can, but what I don't want to 06:12.228 --> 06:16.446 do is compare our sufferings with theirs, although we should always be 06:16.468 --> 06:18.702 ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us, 06:18.756 --> 06:23.614 as Peter says. The church chose to remember their lives and their 06:23.652 --> 06:26.120 deaths, as we're doing today, for of a reason. 06:26.570 --> 06:29.762 By the beginning of the fourth century, persecution had largely 06:29.826 --> 06:33.574 ceased, except perhaps in places like the Persian Empire, where it was 06:33.612 --> 06:34.680 still going on. 06:35.050 --> 06:37.400 But something had begun to take its place. 06:38.110 --> 06:42.726 Instead of martyrdom in the arenas, we find another type of martyrdom 06:42.758 --> 06:45.659 occurring, another type of contest, if you will. 06:46.110 --> 06:50.586 Spiritual athletes were sprouting up everywhere in the desert, and 06:50.608 --> 06:54.702 they were engaged in spiritual warfare, battling demons and their own 06:54.756 --> 06:59.566 sin in a world that was structured to tempt, and if not, to tempt them 06:59.588 --> 07:00.122 to distract. 07:00.186 --> 07:05.885 And if not, to distract them, to corsen and desensitize, all with the 07:05.908 --> 07:08.560 goal of snatching us out of our Father's hand. 07:09.570 --> 07:12.754 And, you know, the older I get, the more frustrated I get with how 07:12.792 --> 07:16.078 hard it is to be a Christian. 07:16.254 --> 07:17.361 I mean, it's hard work. 07:17.416 --> 07:19.698 And I say this as one who knows and believes 07:19.714 --> 07:23.334 I am saved by grace, through faith, not by works. 07:23.532 --> 07:27.366 As I was telling my class the other day, sin and temptation are kind 07:27.388 --> 07:28.978 of like that game Whack a Mole. 07:29.074 --> 07:32.666 You know, you conquer one thing here, and another pops up over here 07:32.688 --> 07:35.786 and then over here and over here, and it's hard to keep up with them. 07:35.968 --> 07:39.738 You finally conquer this sin, and another one springs up. 07:39.824 --> 07:42.366 You conquer envy, and pride pops up. 07:42.548 --> 07:46.813 In fact, in the words of the fifth century Roman Bishop Leo, he says, 07:47.012 --> 07:49.390 satan knows you very well. 07:49.460 --> 07:53.774 He knows whom to overwhelm with grief, whom to cheat with joy, whom to 07:53.812 --> 07:57.090 surprise with fear, whom to bewilder with amazement. 07:57.430 --> 08:01.842 There is no one whose habits he does not sift, whose cares he does not 08:01.896 --> 08:04.980 winnow, whose affections he does not cry into. 08:05.610 --> 08:10.933 And wherever he sees a person most absorbed, he says that is where he 08:10.972 --> 08:13.720 looks for an opportunity to injure him. 08:15.370 --> 08:16.789 It's exhausting. 08:18.110 --> 08:20.169 But the old enemy doesn't get tired. 08:20.750 --> 08:22.070 He's a spirit. 08:22.230 --> 08:24.645 And spirits are like two year olds. 08:24.837 --> 08:26.780 They'll outlast you every time. 08:28.110 --> 08:31.520 And so we ask, you know, how much longer is this going to go on? 08:32.130 --> 08:34.558 Well, that's what the saints under the altar are asking. 08:34.644 --> 08:40.286 And notice what answer they're given a white robe with the 08:40.308 --> 08:43.422 recommendation that they rest a bit longer, because some more people 08:43.476 --> 08:46.670 are going to be killed for what they believe and confess. 08:48.050 --> 08:48.800 Interesting. 08:49.569 --> 08:51.630 Not what I would have expected. 08:52.130 --> 08:55.526 Now, the white robe, of course, stands for the world of righteous that 08:55.548 --> 08:58.117 they receive, but it's not for what they have done 08:58.284 --> 08:59.266 in that arena. 08:59.377 --> 08:59.940 It's not for 09:00.090 --> 09:02.894 the blood they have shed, but for what the Lord they are praying to 09:02.932 --> 09:03.710 has done. 09:03.860 --> 09:07.226 Because in the very next chapter of Revelation, chapter seven, we're 09:07.258 --> 09:11.214 told that the saints are the ones who have washed their robes and made 09:11.252 --> 09:13.550 them white in the blood of the Lamb. 09:14.210 --> 09:16.874 Again, not their own blood, but the blood of the Lamb. 09:16.922 --> 09:20.670 And this is what makes them righteous and clean and holy. 09:21.170 --> 09:24.826 The blood of the Lamb sacrificed at Calvary, and not their own blood 09:24.858 --> 09:27.350 that that they sacrificed, as I said in the arena. 09:28.570 --> 09:31.846 Well, the white robe tells us that everything is taken care of, that 09:31.868 --> 09:33.750 there is nothing left to do. 09:33.900 --> 09:38.120 And I imagine Perpetua and Felicitous wearing their white robes now. 09:39.290 --> 09:41.546 But again, what do we learn from their lives? 09:41.728 --> 09:43.610 What do we learn from their death? 09:44.510 --> 09:47.914 Perpetua and Felicitas also teach us something we often forget in 09:47.952 --> 09:48.522 this world. 09:48.576 --> 09:52.910 A world that, because of sin, is now structured to occupy our every 09:52.980 --> 09:57.310 waking moment with its temptations and distractions to think about 09:57.380 --> 10:00.240 anything but God. 10:01.090 --> 10:02.786 So what do the martyrs teach us 10:02.808 --> 10:08.100 ultimately? They teach us that this is not all there is. 10:08.630 --> 10:10.178 It never has been. 10:10.344 --> 10:13.714 We were created for something more, much more. 10:13.912 --> 10:18.040 Jesus said, Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 10:18.730 --> 10:21.686 He knows that there is a whole other world out there at the 10:21.708 --> 10:25.526 undiscovered country that lies just beyond the horizon of what we can 10:25.548 --> 10:26.120 see. 10:26.810 --> 10:30.906 Because right now, what we see is a lot of suffering, a lot of 10:30.928 --> 10:34.694 loneliness, a lot of death, a lot of frustration, a lot of daily death 10:34.742 --> 10:35.930 that we die. 10:36.350 --> 10:41.438 But just beyond that horizon, there's something beautiful, something 10:41.524 --> 10:43.760 wonderful that is waiting for us. 10:44.690 --> 10:47.040 And Christians are supposed to know this. 10:48.450 --> 10:50.974 God's Word keeps reminding us about it. 10:51.012 --> 10:54.240 The martyrs under the altar know this and cry out for it. 10:54.610 --> 10:58.606 The one who saved us is coming back, just like you see in that window 10:58.638 --> 10:59.362 over there. 10:59.496 --> 11:03.106 And he has a beautiful world in store for us, with no cancer, no 11:03.128 --> 11:06.982 loneliness, no crying, no pain, no suffering, no worrying about 11:07.036 --> 11:10.200 whatever it is that is bothering you right now. 11:10.970 --> 11:12.390 And no sin. 11:13.210 --> 11:14.262 That's what's coming. 11:14.316 --> 11:16.806 And that's what I want to leave you with that thought. 11:16.988 --> 11:19.500 Because that is God's promise to you. 11:19.950 --> 11:20.554 As St. 11:20.592 --> 11:23.754 Paul put it, I consider the sufferings of this present time not even 11:23.792 --> 11:27.819 worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. 11:28.590 --> 11:29.660 It's coming. 11:30.190 --> 11:31.114 It's real. 11:31.232 --> 11:33.750 It's not fake news, and it's yours. 11:33.910 --> 11:35.822 No one can take it away from you 11:35.876 --> 11:39.165 because we have someone who has seen the other side. 11:39.348 --> 11:42.606 He's seen the other side of death and knows that that is not all there 11:42.627 --> 11:43.200 is. 11:44.050 --> 11:45.440 So trust him. 11:45.810 --> 11:47.038 He's got your back. 11:47.124 --> 11:51.546 And he's got a monogrammed white robe waiting the last suit you'll 11:51.578 --> 11:54.982 ever wear, the women and men in white. 11:55.076 --> 11:57.110 May it be so for Jesus sake. 11:57.450 --> 11:58.310 Amen. 11:59.530 --> 12:02.694 And the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, shall keep 12:02.732 --> 12:05.414 our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus unto life 12:05.452 --> 12:06.530 everlasting. 12:06.690 --> 12:07.090 Amen.