Tortullian an ancient theologian said, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." That has been accepted as fact until recently when statistics and graphs have been compared to question the validity of the statement. Of course we know from the book of Acts that it was persecution of the first century church that drove the church outward from Jerusalem taking the Gospel message to a non Christian world. If it is not true today then it might be an indictment upon present day believers and our level of faith and devotion to Christ and His Kingdom. Are we willing to die for our faith and are we willing to live for our faith. Living for our faith may be more difficult at times than actually dying for it. Then the question arises, "can you live for the Faith without dying for the Faith? I am writing this as one who has been young and now I'm older. I once trained teams to go out into the "highways and hedges and compel them to come in." This phrase is taken from Luke 14:23,
"And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled." The word here for "highways" mean a well traveled path. We can see the secular world going about their busyness without much knowledge of God, His ways or His desire to become a part of their lives or endeavors. The word "hedges" used here is a really interesting word. The Greek definition for this word is something that hinders crossing or preventing from coming together. The world and it's busyness and/or business and enterprise must be entered in order to bring the Gospel to them and present to them the Kingdom of God. We must get through the hedge and not be afraid of it.
My old way was to take disciples out on a planned adventure to confront people in malls and street corners in an effort to see them accept Jesus Christ as savior. Some did! Forty years ago the culture was more conducive to such tactics than they are today. But is it possible that I was a little off even back then? It is hard even to write that. I'm so called "retired" now and have been for about 3 years now. I still give pastoral input to some spiritual sons, I still preach some and teach discipleship classes, etc. But what I am really enjoying is living outside the laboratory environment and living out in the highways and hedges. I'm living among and enjoying friendship with people the likes of which I haven't had relationships with since I was saved several decades ago. In honesty I didn't have time for the people of the world because I was busy running the church. I was always telllng people to get out there "among them" and make a difference. Some did and some didn't. Maybe most didn't.
After over 3 years now of living this life I'm seeing the fruit that comes by affecting people without a plan but by just living, talking and listening. Listening is more important and I'm not that good at it but I'm working on it. It is hard to just live the life you believe in and let the Holy Spirit work through you as His vessel day by day. Why should that be so hard? Because we have been trained and conditioned to stop being who we are a night a week or for a week once a year and put on our missionary hat. That was never God's intention. From the beginning it was about me being changed/converted, growing in my love for Jesus and His Word, living among the world, out in the highways and hedges and serving them there. Yes, serving the world! Serve them away from the hedges and serve them to Jesus himself! Acts 1:8 tells us,But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” This verse tells us that it will be the Holy Spirit that empowers us to be witnesses. The Greek word here is martyr. The Holy Spirit will empower us to be martyrs for Christ to the world. There will be days when that may mean knocking on the doors of strangers. The balance of that is that every day we are already commissioned and empowered to be martyrs to the world. We are servants to the world in the name and power of Jesus the Supreme example of servant hood leading to redemption. As I leave my home these days I find myself praying less for converts and more that the Holy Spirit will help me prefer and serve others. Guess what? It ain't easy! It involves death to self! I believe in this sense that the "blood of the martyrs (servants) is the life of the Church!
