A disclaimer: I love the church. It is my home and my family. I don't want to knock the church, but we have to live in the reality that there are things we don't always get right. If we highlight the problems we can go about dealing with them as a family with a forgiving and loving approach, and we can more effectively be the hope of God on earth.
It has really started to bother me that many people in the church in the UK have become so angry with the government decisions that affect the church negatively. The approach often is 'we must change these decisions! We must make the government listen!' I am heartbroken when our government, that has stated their intention to protect our freedom, makes decisions that limit the freedom we have to fully practice our faith.
However, our reaction to these decisions shouldn't be to rally against our government, to get 'up in arms' (literally or figuratively), or to try to force the government to change its mind. We should look to the church in Acts for our example of how to react. The authorities at the time stopped at nothing to prevent the practice of Christianity. Persecution extended as far as stoning Christians examples include Stephen, and on one occasion Paul. Paul survived his stoning.
His response to this should be an example.
Acts 14:19-20 NIV:
"Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe." He gets up and walks back in to the city, and further verses tell us that Paul returns to Lystra to preach again. Paul does not try to change the local authorities through human means, but continues following God's command. He's not even surprised by the persecution that he experiences; and why should he be. Jesus says in the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 5:10-12 NIV
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “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."
So why should we be surprised by persecution. In fact, not only should we expect persecution, we should rejoice in it. Why should we rejoice in persecution. Well, on top of the reasons we are presented with in the beatitudes, we have the example of the effect on the church after the stoning of Stephen. The church becomes scattered. However, as they are scattered they proclaim the good news wherever they go. This leads to growth in the church. A modern example of persecution is the church in China. The church in China has, for many years, been one of the most persecuted in the world. It has also, for many years, been one of the fastest growing churches in the world. So, persecution leads to growth. That isn't isolated though. We will begin to see more persecution of the church in Britain. However, we should rejoice because that means we will also begin to see much more growth in the church in the UK.
So, if our government makes a decision that leads to a positive outcome for the church we should rejoice as we are blessed. Moreover, if the government, or any part of society limits our freedom and persecutes us then our reaction should be like that of the apostles:
Acts 5:40-42 NIV
"His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah."
