“Like A Plague”

In the early days of Christianity, the Gospel spread like wildfire, from the church that Jesus built in Jerusalem, eastward through Persia and into India, southward into Africa, northward across Asia, and westward into Europe, by way of Italy; the Apostle Paul himself spoke of mission trips into Spain.The Roman Empire, which held political control over virtually all of these regions, came to regard the growth of God´s kingdom within Ceasar´s kingdom as something of a plague. Just a few decades into the Christian era, a Roman historian wrote the following, describing those who were embracing the message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ: “They were intensely propagandist. While ever unseen, they were at work. Every member was a missionary of the sect and lived mainly to propagate a doctrine for which they were ever ready to die. Thus the infection spread by a thousand unsuspecting channels, like a contagion propagated in the air it could penetrate, as it seemed, anywhere and everywhere. The meek and gentle slave that tends your children or attends you at table may be a Christian. The favourite daughter of your house who has endeared herself to you by a tenderness and grace peculiarly her own, and which seems to you as strange as it is captivating, turns out to be a Christian. The Captain of the guards, the legislator in the Senate house, may be a Christian. In these circumstances, who or what is safe? What power can defend the laws and majesty of Rome and the peace of domestic life against an enemy like this?”

If there was anything which characterized the New Testament church during its early years, it was definitely not the inertia, or lethargy of so many professing Christians today. Theirs was a vibrant faith, an utter dependence upon and trust in a crucified and a risen Saviour. First century believers displayed a devotion which burned hotter than the brands with which so many followers of Jesus were tortured, and even killed. From the holy pages of history we read how a handful of unlearned and ignorant men turned the world upside down.

In these perilous times, our generation of believers, described as those “upon whom the ends of the world is come”, need to return to our roots. We need to revisit the rock from which we were hewn. May God reignite our passion for the One who loved us, and gave Himself for us. It is time, once again, to “infect” the world with the Gospel!