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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ004104S
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00:31 In late July of 1944 Adolph Hitler was furious. There had 00:37 just been an assassination plot on his life, while he was in his 00:40 steel headquarters the Wolf's Lair in what was code-named 00:45 Operation Valkyrie. A bomb in a briefcase was detonated in a 00:49 conference room. Hitler was meeting there with 20 of his 00:55 most senior officers. However, Hitler survived with only 01:00 relatively minor injuries and he came out looking for blood. In 01:06 the aftermath the Gestapo arrested more than 7000 people 01:11 and executed 4990 of them. Among them was the prominent German 01:17 theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. How did he get caught up in this 01:22 Well today Bonhoeffer is considered a modern martyr. He 01:28 chose so suffer with his people and to actively oppose evil. 01:32 He did it because of his Christian faith and he paid for 01:37 it with his life. Real persecution and martyrdom aren't 01:42 something that most people in the west are familiar with. 01:45 Bonhoeffer's fascinating story gives us insights into how the 01:50 issues around persecution aren't necessarily simple. Join me as 01:55 we follow his story and find out what it takes to make a martyr. 02:00 ♪ ♪ 02:31 I'm here beside the Sea of Galilee where Jesus gave us the 02:34 Beatitudes. The center of Jesus' teachings about the kingdom of 02:39 God is the sermon on the mount. And at the very heart of the 02:43 sermon on the mount are the beatitudes. So if we want to 02:48 really know what it means to be a follower of Jesus and to live 02:52 as a citizen of the kingdom of God then we must understand 02:56 Christ's teaching in the beatitudes. But the beatitudes 03:00 aren't just spiritual principles for Christians. They're arguably 03:05 the body of principles that has been most influential in shaping 03:10 Western civilization as we know it today. The word beatitude 03:16 is an old fashioned religious sounding word that not 03:19 many people recognize today. 03:21 It refers to being blissfully happy. When 03:26 Jesus calls people blessed in the beatitudes that's exactly 03:31 what he means. He means that if you display these qualities you 03:36 will be blissfully happy. This is the happiness that belongs only 03:40 to God and that can come only from God. In other words, when 03:47 in your life you display the qualities Jesus described in the 03:50 beatitudes you will share in the joy of heaven here on earth. 03:54 It's the only way to truly live. Jesus sat on a hill so that the 04:01 large crowd could hear him and he taught the people the most 04:05 radical and influential set of principles for living that this 04:09 world has ever heard. And among the beatitudes he said this in 04:13 Matthew chapter 5 and verse 10: 04:23 Like each of the beatitudes there is a great truth hidden in 04:29 this radical contradiction and this great truth can be seen 04:33 played out in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 04:40 In the modern world when we hear the word martyr we most often 04:46 associate it with radical religious fundamentalists who 04:50 believe it their duty to die in the process of murdering as many 04:54 people as possible who oppose their personal beliefs. But 04:59 that's not what the Christian Bible teaches that martyrdom is. 05:03 To be a martyr means to stand up and witness for the love and 05:08 truth of God even at the cost of your own life. There have been 05:13 countless millions of martyrs for God throughout history. We 05:18 know the names of a few but the names of most have today been 05:22 forgotten by us, but not by God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a modern 05:29 day martyr and we want to share the story of Dietrich 05:32 Bonhoeffer to illustrate the meaning of this beatitude. His 05:37 life illustrates that it's not easy to tread the path of 05:41 persecution. Now you may think that what I've just said is 05:46 obvious but it isn't because being persecuted because of 05:51 righteousness is not simply a matter of what others do to you. 05:55 It's the intensely personal inner conflict and soul 05:59 searching that goes along with it. 06:01 Dietrich Bonhoeffer's path in life was set when at the 06:09 age of 12. 06:11 he shocked his family by announcing that he wanted to 06:14 become a theologian, a Bible scholar, an expert in 06:18 Christianity and religion. From an early age Dietrich had shown 06:24 great musical talent on the piano and his aristocratic 06:28 family was convinced that he was headed for a glittering musical 06:32 career. That's why his family was so taken aback when he told 06:36 them of his decision to study theology and the Bible. Dietrich 06:42 was as good as his word. When he was 21 years old he earned 06:47 his first doctorate graduating Suma Cum Laude. In Germany it's 06:52 a requirement for academics to complete two doctorates before 06:56 being qualified to hold academic positions. That's why three 07:01 years later he went on to complete a second doctorate in 07:05 theology. In between doctorates Dietrich spent time in Spain 07:10 working as a youth pastor to German expatriates. After 07:16 completing his second doctorate Dietrich was still too young to 07:19 be ordained as a pastor so in 1930 at the age of 24 he went to 07:25 the United States to do further postgraduate studies and to 07:30 teach at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. At that 07:36 time Union Theological Seminary was a hotbed of liberalism and 07:40 modern thought and Bonhoeffer was not impressed. There's no 07:44 theology here, he wrote. However through his friendship with 07:49 African American pastors Bonhoeffer began to see the 07:53 gospels from the low as he called it, from the perspective 07:58 of those who suffer oppression. His experiences abroad helped 08:02 turn the gospels from mere words to reality. After his time in 08:08 New York Dietrich returned to Germany in 1931 where he was 08:13 ordained as a pastor and took up the position of lecturer at the 08:18 University of Berlin at just 25 years of age. At around this 08:24 time it became clear that Dietrich had undergone somewhat 08:28 of a personal conversion. He had gone from being mainly attracted 08:32 to the intellectual side of Christianity to becoming a man 08:36 of faith who was dedicated to carry out the teachings of 08:41 Christ as he found them revealed in the Gospels. ♪ ♪ This was a 08:53 time of great upheaval in Germany. A new leader, the 08:58 charismatic Adolph Hitler, was emerging and he seemed to be the 09:01 nations answer to prayer. Hitler's rise to power was 09:06 welcomed enthusiastically by most parts of German society 09:10 including most of the Lutheran Church, the dominant church of 09:14 the nation. One pastor wrote at this time: Christ has come to us 09:20 through Adolph Hitler. However Bonhoeffer opposed Adolph Hitler 09:25 from the very beginning. Just two days after he was elected 09:29 as Chancellor in January 1933 Bonhoeffer made a radio 09:34 broadcast criticizing him warning of the idolatrous cult 09:39 of the Fuhrer and Nazism that was sweeping Germany. His 09:44 broadcast was cut off mid-air. Bonhoeffer was also the first 09:49 religious voice to call for Christian resistance to Hitler's 09:53 persecution of the Jews. In his opposition to Hitler's policies 09:58 Bonhoeffer also courageously went against his own church. 10:03 Bonhoeffer felt disillusioned by the witness of the church 10:08 in opposing the evils of Nazism and in the autumn of 1933 he 10:14 accepted a two-year appointment to pastor a German-speaking 10:18 protestant church in London. While in London Bonhoeffer was 10:23 offered a well sought after opportunity to study non violent 10:27 resistance under Gandhi in India However, Bonhoeffer turned down 10:32 the opportunity because he'd already made up his mind to 10:36 return to his Germany. That was because he felt called to return 10:41 and share in his homeland's struggles despite the bleak 10:45 situation there. So after two years in London Bonhoeffer 10:50 returned to Germany. On his return to Germany Bonhoeffer 10:55 found himself pronounced as a pacifist and as an enemy of the 10:59 state. In 1936, he was forbidden to teach and his books were 11:05 officially banned. For two years Bonhoeffer conducted underground 11:10 seminaries, traveled throughout the country secretly teaching 11:14 pastors. He would change location constantly to stay one 11:19 step ahead of the dreaded Gestapo. During these two years 11:24 while he taught and ran from the Gestapo Bonhoeffer wrote a study 11:29 on the sermon on the mount which is called in English The Cost of 11:34 Discipleship. In it, Bonhoeffer argued true discipleship really 11:39 costs. In fact, it costs everything. Bonhoeffer attacks 11:45 cheap grace as a cover for ethical laxity. Instead 11:51 Bonhoeffer preached costly grace This is what he wrote: 12:22 By now Bonhoeffer was becoming more and more worried that he 12:27 would soon be arrested. So in June 1939 he left Germany for 12:33 the safety of the United States. The plan was for Bonhoeffer to 12:38 safely sit out the war abroad. But as soon as Bonhoeffer 12:43 stepped off the ship in New York City he knew that he didn't 12:46 belong there. His place was back in Germany. He didn't feel 12:52 relieved to be safe. All he felt was guilt for not having the 12:57 courage to practice what he preached. Bonhoeffer's personal 13:02 mantra was: 13:17 Within a month Bonhoeffer was back in Germany in the full 13:22 knowledge that he was stepping right back into persecution. 13:26 Then surprisingly Bonhoeffer did something that no one expected 13:32 he would do. Incredibly he managed to join the German 13:37 Secret Service. But here's why. He joined as a double agent. 13:44 Bonhoeffer worked secretly behind the scenes to save as 13:48 many Jews from the death camps as possible. As part of his work 13:53 as a double agent Bonhoeffer also made contact with some 13:58 military officers who were secretly part of the small 14:01 German resistance opposed to Adolph Hitler. Through them 14:07 Bonhoeffer also had information about various assassination 14:11 plots to kill Hitler. However it was during a rescue attempt 14:16 trying to help some German Jews escaped to Switzerland that led 14:21 to Bonhoeffer's arrest. One April afternoon in 1943 two men 14:28 arrived in a black Mercedes, put Bonhoeffer in the car and took 14:32 him to Tevu prison. Bonhoeffer spent two years in prison. He 14:38 spent his time writing letters to his friends and family as 14:42 well as being a pastor to his fellow prisoners. His letters 14:46 and writings were smuggled out by sympathetic guards. Here's 14:50 something he wrote during his years in prison: It shows us 14:55 what encouraged him during his dark years of suffering. As we 15:00 read them notice the echoes of the writings of the apostle Paul 15:38 On the 20th of July 1944 there was a failed bomb plot to 15:47 assassinate Hitler. It was the closest any attempt had come to 15:52 killing him. The Fuhrer was furious. Bonhoeffer and many 15:58 other who had resisted Hitler's regime in any way whatsoever was 16:02 sentenced to death. So Bonhoeffer was sent to the 16:06 extermination camp at Flossenburg. Payne Best a 16:12 captured RAF pilot and fellow prisoner wrote this observation 16:16 of Bonhoeffer: 16:38 At the break of dawn on April 9, 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was 16:45 hanged. As anticipation for his death he preached a final sermon 16:50 His words were remembered and later retold by Payne Best. 16:55 He said: 17:03 Today Bonhoeffer is remembered as a great modern martyr for the 17:07 message of Jesus Christ. His principled resistance to 17:11 Hitler's regime became a source of inspiration for other great 17:16 modern leaders such as Martin Luther King. So what did Jesus 17:22 mean 2000 years ago when he said right here, Blessed are those 17:27 who are persecuted because of righteousness. When Jesus said 17:32 this the word for witness and the word for martyr were the 17:36 same word. In other words when you witness to the truth of what 17:41 you knew about Jesus you could expect to be persecuted. It also 17:47 works the other way around. Being persecuted and giving 17:51 up your life for the truth about Jesus was the ultimate form of 17:55 witnessing for him. We know that all of Christ's disciples were 17:59 persecuted and all except one died a martyr's death. But it's 18:05 easy to think that this beatitude was relevant to the 18:09 first centuries of Christianity but not so much now. Well there 18:14 are two realities that should make us rethink this. The first 18:18 one is that according to the nonprofit organization Open 18:23 Doors last year alone there were over 250 million Christians 18:28 living in places where they experience high levels of 18:32 persecution. And 4305 Christians were killed for their faith. 18:38 Basically for saying that they believe in Jesus Christ. And the 18:44 second reality is that the Bible tells us this in 2 Timothy 18:49 chapter three and verse 12: 18:59 In other words and unfortunately persecution is business as usual 19:05 in this world of ours. If you're a follower of Jesus and you 19:10 aren't being persecuted then thank God that you are living in 19:14 a tiny bubble of time and space in which you are being spared. 19:19 The other thought that comes from this verse is that those 19:23 who live godly lives won't look for persecution; it will come 19:28 to them. If you are a follower of Jesus then you should really 19:33 understand that most Christians in the world don't have the 19:37 luxury you have. And you can be sure that things will go back 19:42 someday to business as usual. There were a number of reasons 19:47 why Christians were persecuted in the first centuries of 19:50 Christianity. In the end they all came down to the fact that 19:55 they were different. Christians had different values to the rest 19:59 of their culture. At the core Christians refused to worship 20:04 what the rest of their world worshipped. In the first 20:09 centuries of Christianity, persecution could take a variety 20:13 of forms ranging from being socially ostracized to being 20:18 killed in the most barbaric and prolonged ways possible. Today 20:23 persecution in some parts of the world continues in these ways. 20:28 And in other more developed nations is also continues in 20:33 more sophisticated and subtle forms. The only weapon which 20:38 followers of Jesus can use against persecution are the 20:42 intelligent presentation of Bible beliefs and importantly 20:46 the loving demonstration of the Christian life. But how is it 20:52 possible for Christ to say that those who are persecuted are 20:57 supremely happy? Well William Barclay puts it this way: 21:31 Persecution is also an opportunity. It's an opportunity 21:36 to demonstrate loyalty, to show that a person is not ashamed of 21:42 the gospel of Christ and that he isn't afraid to show whose he is 21:47 and whom he serves. To be persecuted is to walk in the way 21:54 of the greatest followers of God But most importantly of all to 21:59 be persecuted is to walk in the way of Jesus Christ. In his 22:04 beatitudes Jesus said this: 22:14 Over and over again the verdict of history has been in favor of 22:20 the persecuted and not the persecutor. So too God will 22:25 pronounce his verdict in favor of his persecuted followers. 22:29 That's why the Bible says this in 2 Timothy chapter two and 22:34 verse 12: 22:42 In fact, here is perhaps the deepest thought of all about 22:45 those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: The Bible 22:49 says that when we go through this experience we are suffering 22:55 together with Christ. But what could that possibly mean? Well 23:00 it's this. Those who accept and endure persecution for the sake 23:05 of Jesus Christ are placed in a special relationship with him. 23:09 They have followed the example of Christ and walked in his 23:14 steps for the sake of righteousness and love. When you 23:19 are being persecuted right now you might not understand but 23:23 Paul, a man who was hounded by persecution for the sake of 23:27 Jesus certainly understood what Jesus meant when he said: 23:35 He understood how it was that it was these people who were the 23:40 ones who were supremely happy. That's why Paul wrote this in 23:43 1 Thessalonians chapter five: 23:54 If a Christian's greatest desire really is to be united with 23:59 Jesus then that relationship means that he or she will be 24:04 prepared to go through both the good times and times of 24:07 suffering, even persecution. In short, we must be prepared to 24:13 suffer together with Christ and also to be raised up with him. 24:18 Remember Jesus said: 24:27 That means because of the righteousness of Jesus. It means 24:32 for his sake not ours. It says: 24:39 Then there are those followers of Jesus who know that 24:42 persecution will come and they fear it. If that's you, then 24:47 Jesus is calling you to a deeper relationship with him, to 24:52 experience a more perfect love because as the Bible tells us 24:56 in 1 John chapter four and verse 18: 25:05 When you love Jesus so much that your greatest desire is to be 25:09 like him, loving, patient and kind, you'll be ready for 25:14 whatever may come even persecution. To enter into that 25:19 kind of love of the truth you need to love God's word and hold 25:24 fast. It will draw you to Jesus. It will draw you to the cross. 25:29 If you would like Jesus as the focal point of your life because 25:34 of what Jesus did for you at the cross, then nothing will be too 25:39 great a sacrifice for him. If you want to accept Jesus like 25:44 that and follow him then I'd like to recommend the free gift 25:47 that we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today 25:52 It's an easy to read booklet Never Give Up. This small 25:57 booklet will only take you a few minutes to read but it could 26:01 assist you to remain faithful to Jesus and help you find the 26:04 right words to be a real blessing and encouragement to 26:09 others. This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. 26:14 I guarantee that there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. 26:19 So make sure you take this wonderful opportunity to receive 26:23 the free gift we have for you today. 26:26 Phone or text us at 0436-333-555 in Australia or 020-422-2042 in 26:38 New Zealand or visit our website TiJ.tv to frequent today's free 26:44 offer and we'll send it to you totally free of charge and with 26:48 no obligation. Write to us at: 27:02 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:09 If you have enjoyed our journey to Galilee in Israel and our 27:13 reflections on the beatitudes and those who are persecuted for 27:17 their belief in Jesus and trust in God then be sure to join us 27:22 again next week when we will share another of life's journeys 27:26 together. Until then may you find and experience the inner 27:31 peace and happiness that comes to those who know Jesus and 27:36 trust in him. Let's pray. 27:39 Dear heavenly Father, we think back in awe to all the martyrs 27:44 who gave their lives for you and then we thank you for the 27:49 sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. Father, we pray 27:55 for grace and mercy for those who are being persecuted for 27:58 your sake today. Give us the courage to be strong in the 28:04 circumstances in 28:05 which we are living today. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 28:13 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-07-07