I wonder sometimes about Paul’s declaration in Philippians 3:10 that he wanted to have fellowship with Christ’s sufferings (“that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death”) and what that means. Since we American Christians did not grow up in a climate of hardship or persecution, it is hard to grasp these powerful words.
This week changes that. If it has been difficult to grasp the persecution of Christ on American soil over the past couple of decades, and all He stands for, in the myriad of legal gesturing such as to eliminate prayer from our schools, God from our money, the 10 Commandments from our legislative history, etc., it is not at all difficult to understand the sheer suffering and pain inflicted on the 10 Christian college students who were murdered for their faith yesterday (plus seven injured) at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, and their families.
According to a witness, the shooter walked into a classroom and immediately shot the professor point blank. He then turned to the students and asked who among them were Christians. Those who stood up were killed. Nothing is known, yet, about these individuals, but God knew them. They were likely Protestant and Catholic, or like the Coptic Christians killed by ISIS earlier this year, perhaps they were Orthodox. It makes no difference. They counted themselves among God’s children, and proved their allegiance to Christ through their public profession of faith.
My message today is simple. Whatever Paul meant when he wrote that he wanted to know Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, he at least meant this: We must stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ, in their darkest hour.
Stand with me, and proclaim to all those you know, “I am Christian.”