Suffering and Sacrifice

I sat in Sunday School a few weeks ago and the teacher used an example I thought illustrated a point very well. He said if you take a worthless plastic cup it means nothing to you. If you drop your diamond wedding ring inside of it, it instantly becomes valuable. That is just like Christians. We are worthless, but Christ in us makes us valuable.

This is a personal study I have done on the suffering and sacrifices of many of the disciples and apostles that served Jesus. It fascinates me to see how dedicated these men were to spreading the Gospel and how devoted they were to making sure the world knew about Jesus’ death. It motivates me to evaluate my service to the Lord and my responsibility to make sure the world I live in knows about Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I love what John MacArthur says in his Matthew Commentary:
“The greatness of God is seen in His choosing the undeserving to be His people and the unqualified to do His work. It should be a marvelous encouragement to every believe to know that, just as Elijah, the apostles had a nature like ours. Apart from the brief ministry of His own Son, the history of God’s work on earth is the history of His using the unqualified. The twelve disciples who became apostles are no exception. The twelve men Jesus chose as His apostles had in their hands the full responsibility for initially taking the Gospel to the rest of the world.”

Matthew- Publican made an apostle. King Hytacus in Ethiopia had him arrested. He was dragged outside, nailed to the ground with short spears and beheaded. 66 A.D.
(Jesus Freaks, 219)

Mark- Apostle with Jesus. He preached the gospel in Egypt, and there, drawn with ropes unto
the fire, was burnt and buried. (Foxes Book of Martyrs, 7)

Andrew- Brother of Peter, Apostle of Jesus. Sentenced to a crucifixion where he hung on the cross for three days until he died. 66A.D. (Jesus Freaks, 149)

James- Son of Zebedee, Apostle of Jesus. King Herod Agrippa had James arrested and sentenced to death based on a man’s testimony about him. This accuser gave his life to Christ after he saw James’ extraordinary courage and stedfast joy even condemned to die. He asked for James’ forgiveness and James kissed him. They were both beheaded. James was the first apostle martyred. 36-44 A.D. (Jesus Freaks 193, Foxes Book of Martyrs, 6)

Thomas- Apostle of Jesus, called “Doubting Thomas” because he had to see the risen Savior. He was preaching in India and North Africa to savage tribes. Many in these tribes were getting saved. In Calamina, India, the people were worshipping an image of the sun. Thomas destroyed that image and put a stop to their idolatry. The sun god’s priests were furious. He was tortured with red hot metal plates and then thrown into a glowing furnace. He was still alive in the midst of the furnace. They threw spears and javelins into the furnace at him until he fell dead.
(Jesus Freaks, 56)

Stephen- Preacher of Jesus. First recorded Christian martyr. Stoned to death. 34 A.D.
(Jesus Freaks, 37)

John the Baptist – Preacher of Jesus. Beheaded.

Simon- Brother of James and Jude. Simon the Zealot. He preached in Egypt, North Africa, and islands of Great Britian. He was painfully tortured and crucified.
(Jesus Freaks, 220, Foxes Book of Martyrs, 6)

Batholomew- Apostle of Jesus He preached to the Indians. He translated the Gospel of St.Matthew into their tongue. He was beaten down with staves, then crucified, then beheaded. (Foxes Book of Martyrs, 7) He preached Jesus for 37 years. He learned the language of the Indians and taught them in their native tongue. Many people turned to Christ from thier idolatry including the King of
Armenia’s brother and his family. the king threatened him to make sacrifices to the god of Astaroth. First he was beaten with rods, then crucified upside down and skinned. Then his head was cut off with an ax. (Jesus Freaks, 205-206)

Philip- Preacher and missionary He labored among the barbarous nations. He was crucified and
stoned to death. He was the 2nd apostle martyred. 51 A.D.
(Jesus Freaks, 219)

James- Half brother of Jesus Apostle of Jesus He was a just man. He drank no wine nor did he eat animal food. He would enter the temple alone to pray for the people. His knees had lost sense of feeling for kneeling to pray that he was said to have “camel knees”.They threw him down from off the temple wall but it did not kill him. They stoned him then took an instrument and struck his head killing him. (Foxes Book of Martyrs, 10-11)
For thirty years he had been the bishop at the church at Jerusalem. He wrote the book of James. He converted many people to Christ. The religious pharisees tried to tempt him into denying his faith. They pushed him off the temple roof. His legs were broken but he was still alive. They started stoning him. A man ran up to him with a big stick in his hand and struck James in the head where he died instantly. (Jesus Freaks, 89-90)

Jude- Brother of Jesus Apostle of Jesus He preached boldly to pagan nations against idol worship and heathen sacrifices. When the pagan priests saw that they were losing followers and money they attacked him with sticks and clubs beating him to death. 68 A.D. (Jesus Freaks, 219)

Peter- Apostle of Jesus Peter was sentence in Rome to be crucified. He said he was not worthy
to be crucified in the same manner as his Savior and requasted to be crucified upside down. The romans honored this request. 65 A.D. (Jesus Freaks, 311- 312)

John- Apostle of Jesus John was tortured and exiled. H elived to be about 100 years old. He
was exiled to the island of Patmos where he had the visions and wrote the book of Revelation.
He was tortured and persecuted, but he died in peace and was not martyred. 95 A.D. (Jesus Freaks, 163-165)

FOOTNOTES:

William Byron Forbush, “Foxes Book of Martyrs”. July 1978.

DC Talk, “Jesus Freaks: DC Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs”. January 1999.