16 AUGUST (1874)
A word for the persecuted
‘What if thy father answer thee roughly?’ 1 Samuel 20:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 15:18–16:4
The large proportion of Christians find themselves opposed by those of their own family, or by those with whom they labour or trade. Is it not likely to be so? Was it not so from the beginning? Is there not enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman? Did not Cain slay his brother Abel because he was accepted by the Lord? In the family of Abraham was there not an Ishmael born after the flesh, who persecuted Isaac, who was born after the Spirit? Was not Joseph hated by his brethren? Was not David persecuted by Saul, Daniel by the Persian princes, and Jeremiah by the kings of Israel? Has it not ever been so?
Did not the Lord Jesus Christ himself meet with slander, cruelty and death, and did he not tell us that we must not look for favour where he found rejection? He said plainly, ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword’, and he declared that the immediate result of the preaching of the gospel would be to set the son against the father and the father against the son, so that ‘a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’. Did he not carefully enquire of every recruit who wished to enlist in his army, ‘Have you counted the cost’? Have you not admired his perfect honesty and admirable caution in dealing with men, when he bids them remember that if they follow him they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and be content to be hated by all men for his sake?
He warns us not to expect that the disciple will be above his Master, for if men ‘have called the master of the house Beelzebub,’ they will assuredly confer no sweet titles upon his household. Since our Lord has forewarned us, it is well for us to stand ready for the trial which he predicts, and to ask ourselves whether we are ready to bear oppression for Christ’s sake.
FOR MEDITATION: Suffering for Christ ought never to come to us as a surprise (1 Peter 4:12–13). When he spoke to his followers about persecution, he said ‘when’, not ‘if’ (Matthew 5:11; 10:23) and promised it to them all (Mark 10:29–30; John 15:20). Those who fall away because of persecution cannot accuse him of misleading them; the fault lies within themselves (Mark 4:17).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 239.
A word for the persecuted
‘What if thy father answer thee roughly?’ 1 Samuel 20:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 15:18–16:4
The large proportion of Christians find themselves opposed by those of their own family, or by those with whom they labour or trade. Is it not likely to be so? Was it not so from the beginning? Is there not enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman? Did not Cain slay his brother Abel because he was accepted by the Lord? In the family of Abraham was there not an Ishmael born after the flesh, who persecuted Isaac, who was born after the Spirit? Was not Joseph hated by his brethren? Was not David persecuted by Saul, Daniel by the Persian princes, and Jeremiah by the kings of Israel? Has it not ever been so?
Did not the Lord Jesus Christ himself meet with slander, cruelty and death, and did he not tell us that we must not look for favour where he found rejection? He said plainly, ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword’, and he declared that the immediate result of the preaching of the gospel would be to set the son against the father and the father against the son, so that ‘a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’. Did he not carefully enquire of every recruit who wished to enlist in his army, ‘Have you counted the cost’? Have you not admired his perfect honesty and admirable caution in dealing with men, when he bids them remember that if they follow him they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and be content to be hated by all men for his sake?
He warns us not to expect that the disciple will be above his Master, for if men ‘have called the master of the house Beelzebub,’ they will assuredly confer no sweet titles upon his household. Since our Lord has forewarned us, it is well for us to stand ready for the trial which he predicts, and to ask ourselves whether we are ready to bear oppression for Christ’s sake.
FOR MEDITATION: Suffering for Christ ought never to come to us as a surprise (1 Peter 4:12–13). When he spoke to his followers about persecution, he said ‘when’, not ‘if’ (Matthew 5:11; 10:23) and promised it to them all (Mark 10:29–30; John 15:20). Those who fall away because of persecution cannot accuse him of misleading them; the fault lies within themselves (Mark 4:17).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 239.
16 AUGUST (1874)
A word for the persecuted
‘What if thy father answer thee roughly?’ 1 Samuel 20:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 15:18–16:4
The large proportion of Christians find themselves opposed by those of their own family, or by those with whom they labour or trade. Is it not likely to be so? Was it not so from the beginning? Is there not enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman? Did not Cain slay his brother Abel because he was accepted by the Lord? In the family of Abraham was there not an Ishmael born after the flesh, who persecuted Isaac, who was born after the Spirit? Was not Joseph hated by his brethren? Was not David persecuted by Saul, Daniel by the Persian princes, and Jeremiah by the kings of Israel? Has it not ever been so?
Did not the Lord Jesus Christ himself meet with slander, cruelty and death, and did he not tell us that we must not look for favour where he found rejection? He said plainly, ‘I came not to send peace, but a sword’, and he declared that the immediate result of the preaching of the gospel would be to set the son against the father and the father against the son, so that ‘a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’. Did he not carefully enquire of every recruit who wished to enlist in his army, ‘Have you counted the cost’? Have you not admired his perfect honesty and admirable caution in dealing with men, when he bids them remember that if they follow him they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and be content to be hated by all men for his sake?
He warns us not to expect that the disciple will be above his Master, for if men ‘have called the master of the house Beelzebub,’ they will assuredly confer no sweet titles upon his household. Since our Lord has forewarned us, it is well for us to stand ready for the trial which he predicts, and to ask ourselves whether we are ready to bear oppression for Christ’s sake.
FOR MEDITATION: Suffering for Christ ought never to come to us as a surprise (1 Peter 4:12–13). When he spoke to his followers about persecution, he said ‘when’, not ‘if’ (Matthew 5:11; 10:23) and promised it to them all (Mark 10:29–30; John 15:20). Those who fall away because of persecution cannot accuse him of misleading them; the fault lies within themselves (Mark 4:17).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 239.
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