November 27, 2010

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:24-26

A disciple is one who is melding his life into Christ's. Or, more accurately, He is allowing Christ to live His life through him. You never know where that will lead. Consider this account that I discovered this week:

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA -- A human rights group has expressed concern about reports of wide spread persecution of Christians in rural Ethiopia where at least one evangelist has been killed "for refusing" to abandon his Christian faith, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, September 22.

Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC), which has close contacts in the region, said it has learned that 34-year old Estifanos Abate, an evangelist of the Assemblies of God church in the town of Jijiga "was shot and killed July 19 for refusing to deny his faith in Christ."

In a statement to BosNewsLife News Center, VOMC said news of the killing had been slow to emerge as "communication is difficult and reports of their courage often take several weeks to reach the outside world."

The incident allegedly happened when the evangelist was traveling from Degahabour to Jijiga in eastern Ethiopia where his passenger bus was stopped by Islamic militants. "The militants boarded the bus, demanding to know the religion of each traveler. Of the 45 passengers, five were Orthodox and four were evangelical Christians. The gunmen ordered these nine [Christians] to be separated from the Muslim passengers," VOMC claimed, citing sources in the area."The Christians were then ordered to repeat the Islamic creed and to bow three times toward Mecca. Everyone but Estifanos complied with the order and was allowed back on the bus. The gunmen threatened Estifanos, who calmly began to tell his attackers about Jesus, while his fellow travelers begged him to save his life by obeying their demands," VOMC said.

"The Muslim leader then ordered the bus to continue on its way, without Estifanos. As the bus pulled away, Estifanos was executed," VOMC added. It quoted eyewitnesses as saying that "his body was left on the side of the road for most of the day, presumably as a warning to others."

Let me ask you this, "Which of these Christians were disciples?"

Let me ask you also, "What would you have done?"

You might be thinking, "Gosh, Brad, I don't know what I would do. How can I know?"

Here are three commitments Jesus asks us to make that I believe this brother made:

1) Dying for Christ Is Better Than Living Without Him

Have you made that commitment? Will you?

2) Dying to Christ Gives Boldness For Living For Him

This is the key commitment! Have you made it? Will you?

3) Living In Christ Gives Boldness To Die For Him

This is what unlocks God's power within you because it unleashes His Spirit! Will you commit to this?

The contrast between our martyred brother and those "believers" who got back on the bus is the crux of the issue in this thing called "discipleship". And, if you are not following Him whole-heartedly in life, you will not follow Him to your death.