When Following Leads to Opposition

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I want to take this post to clarify/ elaborate on something I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday. In Acts 10-11, we read the account of Peter and Cornelius. Peter, a Jew, goes into the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, and preaches the message of Jesus to him and he and his family believe and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is an awesome event! God has opened the gospel to Gentiles.

But not everyone is happy. When Peter returns to Jerusalem, some of the leaders in the Jerusalem church are not pleased that Peter went to the house of, ate with and (presumably) shared Jesus with Gentiles. Peter obeyed God. Peter got to be a part of an amazing work of God. And when he got back to church, he faced opposition.

In my talk, which you can listen to here,  I said that if you want God to start a holy fire in you, then you will face opposition. In the talk I define “holy fire” as having a passion to know God, to know God’s movement in the world and a passion to be a part of that movement. If there’s a holy fire in you, there’s a chance that you’ll face opposition from some Christian-people, church-people, people who you would think would be the most excited about what God is doing. Where I want to clarify/ elaborate is why?

Why will you face opposition?

1. You’ll face opposition because people don’t know the context. The church leaders in Jerusalem only heard part of the story. They didn’t know that God had spoken to Cornelius or that God had spoken to Peter. All they knew was that Peter had broken the social norms by associating with this Gentile, Roman military officer and his family. But when Peter explained everything, the whole story, and placed it in the context of Jesus’ words, the church leaders understood, changed their position and began glorifying God.
2. You’ll face opposition because you’re different. Let’s be honest, for most  Christians and most people who attend church, God is not their utmost passion. God is a passion but not their utmost passion. God’s plans are not their utmost concern and being a part of God’s plan isn’t their utmost desire. There are a lot of other things that get in the way- some of them are good things but God’s desire is for us not to have anything before him. Being passionate about God (while it’s how we all should be) makes you different and when you’re different you’ll face opposition.
3. You’ll face opposition because you’re making others uncomfortable. The Jewish-Christian church leaders were uncomfortable that Peter would go to the house of a Gentile because it broke a social taboo. For you and I,  opposition could come from those who think that talking to “him” or “her” or inviting “those” people to church is breaking a social taboo and it makes them uncomfortable.

Now that we have seen potential reasons why opposition could come our way if God has begun a holy fire in our lives, what can we do about the opposition. We’ll take each in turn.

1. Don’t keep what God is doing in your life to yourself. God could be working in your life in very personal ways but be willing to let others know what God is teaching you. Let them know the context and the Scriptures that are speaking to you. This is important for two reasons. First, your pastors, small group leaders, friends can help you and encourage you. Two, you may inspire them to want to God to work in their life as well.
2. Walking with God and putting God as the utmost thing in your life doesn’t make you different. It makes you exactly who God wants you to be.
3. God’s way naturally challenges the status quo. In God’s kingdom the last are first and the first are last. Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous but the needy. In God’s kingdom, the poor are blessed, the gentle are blessed, the peacemakers are blessed. Read the Sermon on the Mount and see how God’s kingdom makes the status quo uncomfortable. Making people uncomfortable, if it’s for the sake of the gospel, is good- that’s how movements and revivals begin.

God wants us to be passionate about knowing him. God wants us to be passionate about what he’s doing in the world and passionate about how we can be a part of it. Sometimes that will bring opposition. But our faithfulness to God’s calling in our lives can lead, like those who opposed Peter, to change their hearts and glorify God because of the amazing things God has done.