Coping in the Face of Persecution: A Response to the Charlie Kirk Assassination

Text: Philippians 1:12-20

Key Verse (s): Phillipians 1:12b . . .the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;  

Introduction: 

On Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 12:23 pm (Mountain Time), the report of a rifle being shot echoed through the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. In an instant, the life of Charles James Kirk, better known as Charlie Kirk, lay mortally wounded on the stage of a Turning Point USA rally. Later that day, the President of the United States revealed to the nation that this 31-year old young man had lost his life to an assassin’s bullet.

69 years earlier, on Sunday, January 8, 1956 at around 3:00 pm (Columbia-Ecuador Time), members of an indigenous tribe known as the Auca or Huaorani people, attacked and murdered five Christian Missionaries attempting to make initial contact with them. The leader of this group of murdered missionaries was Phillip James Elliot, better known as Jim Elliot. Missionaries Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint lost their lives attempting to make contact and carry the gospel of Christ to this indigenous, unreached people group in Ecuador. 

Later, it was discovered in Jim Elliot’s journals that he had penned a phrase that would ever be associated with his name and ministry. He wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” No doubt, Jim was reflecting on a similar statement made by the 17th century British pastor Phillip Henry who said, “He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.” Thus, we are left on this day with as yet an unanswered question as to why Christ allows such men as Jim Elliot or Charlie Kirk to be taken in death at such an early age. 

We must consult the Scriptures for our answers in much the same way that King David often immersed himself in the Scriptures in times of crisis in his life. 

Thus, we find in the Scriptures how every believer can cope in the face of persecution for our faith. 

1. By remembering that our persecution brings about the furtherance of the gospel. (v.12).

2. By understanding that our persecution motivates other Christians to boldly proclaim their faith in Christ and join in solidarity with those who are persecuted (v.14-18)

3. By rejoicing that Christ will be magnified in your body, whether by life or by death (v.19-20). 

 Conclusion:

The death of Charlie Kirk is tragic from a human perspective. By contrast, his death from Christ’s perspective is one that will enable positive and eternal consequences. Some of these outcomes have already been witnessed. No doubt, many will come to faith in Christ because of Charlie Kirk’s Christian testimony. His death will only embolden others to proclaim their faith in Christ and gain adherents to the cause to which he espoused. I am reminded of the famous quote of Tertullian, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” It was once observed by one of the persecutors of Christians in the early centuries of the Christian era that the more they were killed, the more their numbers grew. 

Charlie Kirk did not die in vain. In an instant he was listening to a question and in the next instant he was in the presence of Jesus Christ. My we proclaim with the Apostle Paul’s rhetorical question today, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Cor. 15:55)

Charlie Kirk is not this generation’s Martin Luther King; much more than that. He is this generation’s Jim Elliot. What will you do with your life as Christ’s redeemed, blood-washed band?