The message of Jesus Christ has always been viewed as subversive to other religions. This was the case for the early church, as well. Thing is, Jesus Christ is not a religion. There are no โworksโ I can perform to stand before a perfect and righteous God that will make me righteous. My faith is 100% in the shed blood of our risen King Jesus. When I stand before God one day, He will see the blood of Christ! That is freedom. I am not bound by any religion set forth by man nor any labels. The label of โChristianโ has been butchered. I hope you read to the bottom if you got this far.
Reading the Book of Acts and listening to a few commentaries today:
Paul goes and announces Jesus as the revelation of the one true God and as the King of the world who shows up all other gods and idols as powerless and futile. His message is consistently viewed as subversive to the Roman way of life and he gets accused of being a dangerous social revolutionary.
These stories show how the multi-ethnic, monotheistic Jesus communities did not fit into any cultural boxes known to the Roman Empire. The ancient world had just never seen anything like them!
(This all sounds awfully familiar to what many believers will and are going through presently! ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ: ๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฑ๐๐ฌ! Blows peopleโs minds. Even other so-called followers of Christ, aka โChristiansโ. I say this all in love. It's all very true. Often, we are persecuted by our own brethren the most.)
The early Christians aroused more than just suspicionsโฆ.another theme Luke repeats in the Book of Acts is how Paul and the other followers of Christ are constantly being accused of rebellion (Acts 17, 18). Even treason against Caesar, the Roman Emperor! People heard Paul correctly: He WAS announcing that there is another Kingโฆ Jesus!
They also correctly saw that the Christian way of life was a challenge to many Roman cultural values. But every time Paul gets arrested and interrogated before the Roman officials, they do not see any threat and he is dismissed.
These stories show us the paradox that the early church presented to the world. Ethnically diverse communities that treated men and women, rich and poor, and slave and free โ all as equals. They all gave their allegiance to King Jesus alone and no other god or king. It simply just blew their minds. The same way it does today when we don't give allegiance to any other kings or gods.
The early followers of Christ's very existence turned upside down the core value of Roman culture, but followers of Christ posed no military threat because Jesus taught them to be people of peace.
๐๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฎ๐จ!
People of peace. My fight is not conforming to the world. I am not a threat to you or anyone else in this world.
And when the enemy attacks and tells you how unworthy you are to represent Christ, remind him this: He which has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of our death or His return. Whichever comes first.