Suffering Shame for His Name

Just as with the healing of the lame man (Acts 3:1–10) led to the first arrest (Acts 4:1–22), the Sadducees continued to be concerned about the message the apostles are preaching and the attention they are getting due the miracles and sign they were performing.

But this time, they not only arrested them but "intended to kill them" (Acts 5:33) after Peter and the Apostles yet again resolutely refused to comply with the Sanhedrin's order to cease from preaching the name of Jesus. The Apostles, yet again, indicted them with the killing of Jesus and proclaimed him as Messiah.

Gamaliel, a respected teacher of the Law whom the Apostle Paul learned under, dissuaded the Sanhedrin from killing the Apostles but not before "they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus" (Acts 5:40). The purpose of the flogging was not merely to inflict pain, but to shame and humiliate them as law-breakers in the eyes of the people.

The Apostles' reaction was to rejoice "that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame [or dishonor] for His name." We are tempted to read that verse too quickly and move on without considering its implication to us personally. Consider this! Have you really ever suffered for the sake of Christ? Being inconvenienced in our comfortable modern society with its instant gratification does not count.

The Apostles' didn't just suffer hardship. This world is broken and until the Lord Jesus comes back and sets everything straight again, it will remain broken. Rather, the Apostles suffered for His Name. Their suffering was due to their witness and their resolute stand to have a faith in God that is greater than their fear of man. But more than that, they didn't just suffer for the Name of Christ, they suffered humiliation, shame, and dishonor for His Name.

Because the Apostles lived in an honor-based culture, it is oxymoronic to consider suffering dishonor a cause for joy. But . . . the Lord Jesus had told them:

•  “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23).

Are you looking for your great reward in heaven? Or as you seeking a life of comfort and ease?
Would you really consider being humiliated for the sake of Christ a cause for rejoicing?