Hannah Nation - Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church

Faith in the Wilderness

Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church

Edited by

HANNAH NATION & SIMON LIU

Foreword by

TIM KELLER

Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church

Copyright 2022 Hannah Nation and Simon Liu

Kirkdale Press, an imprint of Lexham Press

1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

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You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at .

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (CUV) are from the Chinese Union Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Print ISBN 9781683596042

Digital ISBN 9781683596059

Library of Congress Control Number 2021947076

Lexham Editorial: Deborah Keiser, Kara Roberts, Kelsey Matthews, Mandi Newell

Cover Design: Joshua Hunt, Brittany Schrock

For those who are just beginning to understand that following

Jesus means walking the way of the cross. May the words of these

witnesses help you to lay aside every weight and sin and run with

endurance ().

H. N.

To Wang Yi and all faithful Christians in jail,

We preach these sermons, but you live them out by following the

steps of our Lord Jesus, carrying the cross and shining the light in

the darkest corners of China.

S. L.

Contents

Guo Muyun

Simon Liu

Yang Xibo

Brian Li

Victor Guo

Chen Yi

Noah Wang

San Shou

Paul Peng

Confidentiality is important for the ongoing ministries of the

pastors featured in these pages. Their churches are often closely

monitored and threatened with being disbanded.

Some of the biographies are purposefully short and names

changed to protect their identities.

M any Christians in the West are concerned that our secular societies are becoming more inhospitable to Christian faith and practice. We often feel persecuted. In no way do I want to minimize the headwinds we are now facing in the countries that formerly constituted Christendom. But to get desperately needed perspective, we must listen to the voices of believers in parts of the world where the opposition is much more pervasive and often takes the form of violence. This is the situation for Christians in large swaths of AsiaEast, South, and West. They are indeed learning what the words of our Lord mean:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ( NIV )

Christians in the West seldom have had to test these important words of Jesus in the way our brothers and sisters in Asia have. Chinese Christians in particular have had reason in recent years to rely on this promise of Jesus. There are at least four things to learn from these verses.

B LESSED ARE YOU WHEN PEOPLE INSULT YOU

Not, Blessed are you if people insult you. Every beatitude is a characteristic of a Christian. Every Christian must be poor in spirit, or you are not a Christian; every Christian must hunger and thirst after righteousness, or you are not a Christian. This is the last of the Beatitudes, which means Jesus assumes that if you are a Christian, you will be persecuted. If you are living in any way consistently with Christianity, you will experience some kind of loss, some pushback, some opposition. (See for confirmation of this interpretation: all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.)

W E ARE ONLY BLESSED IF THE PERSECUTION IS BECAUSE OF ME [J ESUS ]

Not because of you. Peter says something similar in : But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler ( ESV ). The word translated meddler is an amazing Greek word. It means to be a busybody or to be tactless. What Peter and Jesus are saying is, if you are talking about your Christian faith in a feckless way, a tactless way, an abrasive way, an insensitive way, a culturally inappropriate way, and people oppose you, dont say, I am being persecuted for Jesuss sake! No, you are being persecuted for your sake. If you are being obnoxious, the promise of blessedness doesnt hold.

P ERSECUTION BECAUSE OF J ESUS RESULTS IN PRAISE FOR THE F ATHER

Here is one way to determine whether you are being persecuted for Jesuss sake or for your own sake:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ( NIV )

Some people will look at your life and faith and persecute you; others will look at that same life and will praise your Father in heaven. Some non-Christians will respond with hostility, while others will be attracted by your life and persuaded by your testimony.

I propose that this is a great way to test ourselves. If we are only persecuted and few or no people are finding faith or being attracted to Jesus through us, then we are likely being persecuted for our tactlessness. If we are never persecuted, then we are likely compromising or being too quiet about our faith. But if both of those things are happeningif you are persecuted and your testimony is bearing fruityou are in a sweet spot. Speaking the truth without love will only bring opposition; being loving without insisting on the truth is cowardice. One of the most worrisome things about the church in the West is that we are not seeing much persecution or attraction, and surely that is an indictment.

W E CAN EXPERIENCE THE PROMISE OF BLESSEDNESS THROUGH MEDITATING ON J ESUS

Finally, how do we get the blessedness that Jesus says comes if you are persecuted for his sake?

That blessedness is a fascinating promise. It means the Holy Spirit will rest on you in a special way. It means his character will come into your life and be created, and it will shape you in a special way. It likely also means that you will see some people attracted to Jesus because of, not in spite of, the persecution.

But I suggest you not be passive, that you actively go in prayer to God during times of persecution to seek the joy, love, and courage you need. One way to do that is to meditate on Jesus in the following way.

Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus emptied himself of his glory. The King James Version translates these verses to say that Jesus, even though he was equal with the Father, made himself of no reputation. He had glory, and he had honor. He had the name, but he became rejected. He was shamed, humiliatedvoluntarily. Crucifixion was not only a way to execute people. It was intentionally the most humiliating and ignominious death the Romans could come up with. Death on a cross was a dishonorable death. That means Jesus died in absolute shame so that you and I will not die in shame. We are going to have a name that lasts forever. Our names are written in heaven, inscribed in Gods book. We are going to live with honor and glory forever because Jesus experienced shame and humiliation.