1 Peter 4.1-6

Notes for a sermon - not a transcript.

As you sit there now, what does it mean to you that Jesus suffered and died?

• Sins forgiven – free from guilt & just punishment
• Eternal life – hope & no fear of death
• Adopted as God's son
• Filled with Holy Spirit – and filled with the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience etc.

All those are wonderful & true. And in chapter 1, Peter had reminded us of the new birth and living hope that are ours because of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. But also in ch 1, and in the midst of these great truths, is the not-so-welcome truth that now, for a little while, we may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. And in chapters 2 & 3, he's been telling us that Jesus “suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps.” So when we're abused & insulted for following Jesus, we keep on following him, and we refuse to retaliate or return abuse with abuse.

We know from 3:7 that it is better to do good and to suffer – if that be God's will for us – than to do evil and to suffer. So it comes as no surprise this morning that we read, 'Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude.' Just as Jesus always did the right thing and only said what was good and true, and suffered for that, so we must do and say only what is right even if that means suffering.

It's not hard to understand that we're called to follow in Christ's footsteps – in his behaviour and that we may have to suffer the consequences of behaving like him. But, is hard to keep walking that way – the way of Christ is the way of suffering, and if we see what looks like an easier path, we'll take it.

And yet, as any good Scout or Bronze D of E student knows, you leave the marked path at your peril.

And here Peter gives us good reasons to stick to the tough path that Jesus marks out before us.

First, we're done with sin.

Therefore, says Peter in v1, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

This verse cannot be saying that suffering leads to a sin-free life. We all know that's not true – and the Bible never gives us false hope or false promises.

It may be that this is one of the verses that has led members of the Catholic group Opus Dei to wear the cilice – a chain of sharp points worn around the thigh – in the hope that it will make them better people.

But this is not saying that self-inflicted pain will lead to a sinless life.

The context shows us that this is suffering for doing what is right – it's not suffering in order to do right, but suffering as a result of of doing right. So you'll be pleased to hear that we won't be handing you a cilice on your way out today!!

So, as someone has said, 'Whoever has suffered for doing right and has still gone on obeying God in spite of the suffering it involved, has made a clear break with sin.” Such a person “has most definitely acted in a way which shows that obeying God, not avoiding hardship, is the most important motivation for his or her actions.”

And, v2, as a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

Christians can get very hung up on trying to decide what God's will is for their life

• should I take this job?
• Should I move house?
• Should I send my child to Bennett or TWIGGS?
• Nottingham or Bristol Uni?
  • And so on

But here, as in the rest of the Bible, God is much more concerned with how we live life than where we live life – in how we do a job more than what job we do. Unfortunately, we too often put things the other way round – we get really wound up about where or what, and we should be much more concerned in how we live. God's will is that we should be holy. That we should follow in the steps of Jesus. That we should not live life for evil human desires but for the will of God.

Think back to that picture we had the other week of baptism – going down into the water symbolises death to the old way of life before rising up out of the water to a new resurrection life with Christ.

And that life with Christ is the life of Christ - a life which obeys the will of God by doing what is good and right, and suffering for that if necessary.

So, Second, what does this life lived in the will of God look like?

Or rather, what doesn't it look like? And the answer in v3, is that it doesn't look like the lives of those around us, and it doesn't look like the life we used to live:

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do— living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

That was what the Christians Peter was writing to were surrounded by. Now it may be that you are surrounded by people who indulge in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry, and it may be that you used to indulge in such things. But if you are not surrounded by all of these and you didn't used to indulge in all of them them, don't think you've got away scott free and don't need to change your life! Instead, change the list. What un-Christian attitudes and actions are you surrounded by? What godless things did you used to do? Swearing? Crude jokes? Back-stabbing? Idolising work or your children or your home? Spending too much time and money on holidays, or clothes, or technology & gadgets?

But it's really not easy to abandon what are very often the accepted practices of the 'nice' people who live up and down our streets and who work next at the next desk. And because we're completely surrounded by people who think that their priorities are normal and good and right and nice, we too begin to accept them as normal and good.

Take, for example, Halloween. 10 years ago, hardly anyone really noticed it. Now it's everywhere, and it's easy to get drawn in. Now, I'm not one of those that's going to say, as some Christians do, that Halloween is infested with demons & witchcraft. But I'm also not going to say, like most non-Christians, that it's a bit of fun. It's not. People are scared by gangs of kids roaming the streets & threatening householders.

Small children are genuinely frightened by stupid stories of ghosts.

Why celebrate something that's fundamentally not good at best and thoroughly nasty at worst? Wouldn't it be better to celebrate good things? To celebrate what's true & right? And to do so in a way that brings everyone joy? So let's have nothing to do with Halloween, but see it as an opportunity to speak of the goodness of Christ.

But when we do get the courage to say 'no' to Halloween or any kind of non-Christian ungodliness then, v4, they will think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.

Well, perhaps not abuse as such – after all they're much too nice – too British – to do that – but they will look down their noses at you and put you under a lot of pressure to conform to what they think of as normal.

And when you find yourself tempted to give into this pressure to conform, think back to v5, 'They will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.' Everyone who refuses to do God's will will have to explain before him why they have rejected him. They will have to tell God why they never gave him the time of day. They will have to explain to him why they were always too busy for the Lord of time. They will have to tell the creator of all things why everything else was more important than him.

But Peter mentions this not as a threat to non-Christians and certainly not to gloat over them, but as a warning to us. It's so much easier to spend our lives being concerned with the colour of the curtains; where to go on holiday; which school the children should go to and so on and on – there are so many things to divert us from God. But the gospel was preached, v6, to save us – and those who are now dead – from the stupidity of following after trivial things and ending up under the eternal condemnation of God.

Yes, we may be judged according to men & women in this life, and we may suffer under their judgements, but we live according to God – we live this life under him, with him, empowered by him, glorifying him, honouring him – that's the life Peter calls, 'in regard to the spirit' in v6.

Conclusion

Sin is serious. Deadly serious. Literally. Christ died for sins.

Christ died for sins that we might not be judged for our sins, but live a new life for God – a new and eternal life. Baptism is a regular reminder of this.

Do we lead a perfect life now? No. And we won't until we are with Christ after our own death.

But can we begin to live a new life now? Yes. Absolutely. And this new and radically different life is not just for the keen Christian. It's not just for the so-called clergy. It's for all of us. And sometimes I wonder if we're not all a bit too soft on just how radically different our lives should be.

I pray that God will begin to reveal to us the kind of changes he wants us to make in order that we really will live the rest of our earthly lives not for evil human desires but for the will of God.

The impotence & the power of gods

'Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!'       Jeremiah 16:20

There is huge irony in this: in one sense, we are incapable of making a god. We can't make a true god who acts or speaks.
And yet we are always making gods; gods that exert immense power & influence over us, gods that we serve and adore, gods we love and follow, gods who enslave us and won't let us go. But these 'gods' are no gods at all. They can't speak or act. And yet they enthrall us.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and despreately sick; who can understand it?    Jer 17:9

And the unutterable sadness is that they draw us away from the true, living, speaking, acting, faithful, loving, Lord God Almighty who longs to save us from the slavery of these not-gods. No wonder God is so angry with his people when they abandon him for such things.

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.      Jeremiah 17:5

So what's the cure for our stupidity?

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water...        Jeremiah 17:8

What could be more obvious and yet more hidden? Trust not in the stupid little gods we make, but in the Lord who made us and everything else, who was before all things and will be forever. Trust him who came to us in his Son and demonstrated the full extent of his love, faithfulness and goodness.

An apparently extraordinary command

Surely we're to pray about anything & everything, anyone & everyone, arent' we? 
Well, no. In Jeremiah 7:16, God tells Jeremiah, 

As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.

And then in 11:14

Do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer in their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.

Why not pray for them? The answer given is that they have broken the covenant and are persisting in their worship of idols. They have made their own gods of wood and stone, and think that prayers and sacrifices to these idols will save them from disaster. Meanwhile, when Jeremiah speaks the word of the LORD, they threaten to kill him (11:18-23).  


But what of the NT? Well, there's an echo of this in 1 John 5

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

Of course here there's the added complication of the 'sin that leads to death' and 'the sin not leading to death.' But in the context of 1 John andtaking into account the OT background, it seems as if the unforgivable sin is turning away from the covenant God makes with his people. That's certainly the context in Jeremiah, and in 1 John, the 'liar' and the 'antichrist' is anyone who knows the truth that Jesus is the Christ but denies it. (2:18-23 & 4:1-6). To deny Jesus as the Christ is to deny the Father and to forfeit life. 

But does this mean that we're not to pray for non-Christians to come to faith? No. This is a specific command about those who know the truth and have abandoned the truth. In the OT, it was God's own people Israel. In the NT it's those who 'went out from us' because 'they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might be plain that they are not of us.' (1 John 2:19). Once people have heard about Jesus and know full well who he is and not only reject him but teach against him (4:1) then it would seem that there's no point in praying for them. That sounds incredibly harsh because it is, and because it's so harsh it means we should not quickly asign anyone to this category. We don't have that clear command not to pray that Jeremiah had, so it's surely better to pray and have the prayer unanswered than to assume we know where people stand in relation to 'the sin that leads to death.'

The Wall Street Protest and the Wrath of God

I guess most ordinary people sympathise with the frustrations expressed by the so-called 'Wall Street Protesters' camped out in the major financial centres of the world, including London. We're frustrated because the same people whose greed and malpractice caused the banking crisis are still heading up the banks and still earning vast and immoral sums of money because, 'you have to pay top dollar to get the best people' (even if these people have a track record of utter failure).
No, we might not agree with the way the protesters are ging about it, and no, we may not agree with the anarchic, new age or extreem environmental philosophy of some of them, but all of us who are paid normal salaries and had no experience of banking knew 15 years ago that ever-increasing house prices would all end in tears and we're angry that none of these bankers could see what we all saw.
But what has all this got to do with the wrath of God?
Well, in Jeremiah 6, the Lord expresses his anger with the oppression, false-dealing, greed, unjust gain and complacency of his people. Society had degenerated into the haves and the have-nots - something that should never have happened among God's people. And God is angry at this, so he warns that he will punish his own people for their disobedience and rejection of him and his word. A stronger nation will attack and besiege the capital city, Jerusalem.The description of what will happen is terrifying.
Now there are a number of trajectories here:
First, we know that the NT application of this will be to the church, and to Christians, not the nation. And we're reminded that we must not be those who participate in injustice, greed and oppression because we follow in the steps of the Servant King. But we also acknowledge our guilt, for we have participated in these things. And the astonishing thing is that the horrors of which Jeremiah speaks were poured out on Jesus at the cross. To grasp the magnitude of his sufferings, we need to hear just how angry God was with his disobedient people, and how great was the just penalty - war, desolation, separation from the restraining hand of God, the unleashing of evil. And that's what Christ suffered on our behalf.
Second, as we look at the protests against the abuses of capitalism, we must not allow our sense of outrage to lead us into ungodly rage. Yes, we need to use lawful means of protest to uphold justice and to defend the poor and the oppressed, but we must not fall into the very same trap of greed that swallowed the banks - could it be that we're actually feeling resentment and envy rather than righteous anger? Fortunately God's wrath won't break out on us as it did in the OT because Christ has paid our penalty, but it's only when we realise that that we're motivated to honour and follow him.
And so, third, we must remember that the words of Jeremiah are addressed to God's own people. We cannot expect non-Christians to follow God's paths of humilty, sacrifice, and love to the same extent as those who have been filled and empowered by the Spirit of God, to produce the fruits of the Spirit. This should spur us on to greater urgency in evangelism. Protests are all well and good, but whatever might result from them, it cannot have the transforming power of the gospel.
Fourth, in the end, ungodliness, wickedness and greed will continue until the renewal of all things at the end. Until then, we work, pray, preach, love, give. Until that great and glorious day we must do all we can to be salt and light in a dark and godless world. With God's help we can mitigate the effects of evil but he will not finally do away with them until the end.

It's all about you

I found an old business card the other day. I can't remember the guy who gave it to me, or when I met him. On the card was printed Jeremiah 29:11, 'I have plans for your welfare... to give you a future and a hope.'
Now I'm sure it's true that, ultimately, God has wonderful plans for that man as he has for all of us who trust in Christ. But before the glory of heaven, it's pretty certain that we will suffer - that's our calling in Christ (1 Peter 2:21 etc). So we need to be careful how we appropriate Bible verses for ourselves by setting them in their proper context and remembering when they were spoken in God's plan of salvation.
But it's easy to criticise, as I was reminded when I was reading an earlier chapter in Jeremiah this mroning. In Jeremiah 5, people are criticised for injustice, swearing falsely, refusing God's rebuke, breaking their bond with the Lord, running after foreign gods, complacency, selfish hoarding and rejection of God's word.
In today's climate it would be very easy to say that this is about the greed, dishonesty and injustices of the banking & financial world. And I have no doubt that many sermons based on the OT prophets will be drawing that conclusion in pulpits around the world.
But Jeremiah 5 is not about the pagan world. It's about God's people, Israel. It's God's people who have turned away from him and become unconcerned for justice. It's they who have committed adultery with false gods. And so, v10, in a passage that's echoed in Jesus' teaching about the vine in John 15, Jeremiah is told,

'Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me', declares the Lord.

And so, interpreting this through NT spectacles as we must, we find that this is not about bankers and corporate greed, but about the church and those who call themselves Christians:

'I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.'      John 15:1f

The fruitfulness that Jesus wants from us is,

 'everything that is the product of effective prayer in Jesus' name, including obedience to Jesus' commands (v10), experience of Jesus' joy (v11...), love for one another (v12), and witness to the world (vv16, 27) This fruit is nothing less than the outcome of persevering dependence on the vine, driven by faith, embracing all of the believer's life and the product of  his witness.'   (D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, p.517).

So the conclusion is that if we are not producing the fruit of genuine fellowship with  and dependence on Jesus Christ - if we are not obedient, joyful, loving, witnessing people - then we are not true branches and will be 'cut off and thrown into the fire' (v6).  In Jeremiah's language this is being overrun by a foreign nation and being ejected from the land - exclusion from the goodness and rule of God and from the Promised Land. For us, it's about exclusion from the eternal glory of the kingdom of heaven.
And so as we read Jeremiah, we must search ourselves and our church and ask if God's finger is pointing at us. Are we neglectful and fruitless?
If so, then we must hear God's call to repentance. And remember that it is simply by abiding in Jesus - by living in dependence and reliance on him and allowing ourselves to be fed by him and his word - that we will become fruitful.

Suffering for being a Christian

1 Peter 3:13-22 (Pt 1)

(Notes for a sermon, abbreviated for the web - especially the first part - so not the actual text of what I preached).

We start with a question, 'Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?'

Imagine reading these words if you were a church minister facing execution, accused of leaving Islam & becoming a Christian.

'Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?' - who will harm you if you give your life to pastoring God's church?

'The government will.' You might say.

And Peter himself knows how Christians have always suffered for doing good. In his own day the Romans beat and crucified Christians in their thousands. Peter saw Jesus himself beaten, lashed, nailed to a cross and murdered.

These are not the trite words of a comfortable, western 21^st C church pastor paid a handsome salary. These are the words of someone who has seen and experienced suffering suffering for himself. The words of someone who will himself be killed for doing good, as Jesus had said he would.

But put yourself in the shoes of the pastor threatened with execution. Or his wife's shoes, or his children's. And look at verse 14, 'But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.' Blessed?! Imagine reading that the day before you're due to be executed. How can a pastor's execution possibly mean blessing for his family?

And yet, I know of Christian women here in TW who have lost their husbands in road accidents or through cancer, have been left to bring up children by themselves and yet can speak of God's faithfulness to them and to their children. Women who can praise and worship and thank God for his blessings despite, and in the midst of, unimaginable pain.

This can only be possible because, as Peter has been showing us, in Christ, we have become new & different people.

In his translation of ch 1, J B Phillips captures this superbly,

Thank God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in his great mercy we men have been born again into a life full of hope, through Christ's rising again from the dead! You can now hope for a perfect inheritance beyond the reach of change and decay, "reserved" in Heaven for you. And in the meantime you are guarded by the power of God operating through your faith, till you enter fully into the salvation which is all ready for the [final outcome] of the last day. This means tremendous joy to you, I know, even though at present you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident – it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold.

“This is no accident”. Suffering is no accident.

The atheist says, 'How can you believe in a good and powerful God in the face of such suffering'. And we answer, 'How can you live without plunging into utter despair if all such suffering is just an accident?'

Knowing that life is not just an accident is itself a blessing . In the midst of suffering, we it is no accident. We know that God has a much, much bigger and far more glorious goal for us than this life in which suffering of one sort or another comes to us all.

One of the reasons suffering is such a massive question for us all is that we fear what might happen. Of course we do. We're human. We feel pain, both emotional and physical. And the thought of suffering fills us with dread. And yet, says Peter, quoting Isaiah, 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.'

And it's worth going back to Isaiah and looking at what was happening when Isaiah first wrote these words. Then we'll discover what was in Peter's mind as he quotes them. Isaiah 8:11-14.

There were two types of people within God's people Israel – those who feared God and those who feared the king of Assyria. The threat from Assyria seemed more imminent, more real, more frightening. But God's word to his people is, 'I am the one you must consider as holy. I'm the one you need to fear, not Assyria. Fear me, and you will find I am your sanctuary. I am your security. I am your hope.'

And so, back in 1 Peter, to those who are threatened by non-Xn government, employers and even husbands, Peter says, 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts honour Christ as holy'.

It may be that people in authority over you have considerable power to make our lives a misery:

• the government can oppress us and try to stop us speaking the truth.
• You employer may have the power to fire you, to bully you, to belittle you.

But we must recognise that their authority and power is limited and temporary. God's power is unlimited and eternal. Therefore, 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts honour Christ as holy'.  Let Christ your Lord be Christ your Lord.

And when Christ is your Lord and you don't fear other people, then you will appear very different from your friends and colleagues. As oppression, bullying & threats increase, the more you will stand out as someone who doesn't fear what they fear because you honour Jesus Christ as Lord. 

As the economic situation deteriorates, the more we Christians should stand out. Our friends and colleagues will become increasingly fearful for the future. But we remain confident and full of hope – not that the EU or the IMF or the Bank of England will sort out the mess, but that ultimately there is something more important than prosperity and growth.

And so, if Jesus Christ really is our Lord, people will begin to see that we're different. Our hope is not in economic recovery, but in our Lord Jesus. Perhaps Europe won't recover. Perhaps the EU will fall apart. There may even be civil war if not international conflict. But we will not fear. And non-Christians will question us. 'Why are you so different? How can you remain full of hope when everything looks so black?'

And, with gentleness and respect, we will give an answer for the hope that is in us – we will explain that we have a hope that transcends anything this world has to offer. 

But will it take an economic crash and a depression for us to demonstrate the hope that we have? Sometimes I think it might. And yet there are opportunities every day when we can demonstrate that we honour Jesus as our Lord:

I'm sure that in your office, no-one ever moans(!), but if that should ever happen, it's a great opportunity not to join in! To show that there are more important things in life – because let's face it, in the eternal scheme of things, the usual office complaints aren't terribly significant.

Or what if you work in the public sector: you're going to hear lots of complaints about the changes in pension arrangements. You might be balloted about strike action.

What should you do? How will you respond? Think about it from perspective of eternity – what difference will that make? What is it that your colleagues are afraid of? Should you fear what they fear?

And at school – there are great opportunities to demonstrate that JC is your Lord. Do you join in the criticisms of you teachers? Do you fear exams like they fear exams? What are exams in the light of eternity?

And all of this is not just to gloat over our calmness and joy in the face of difficult circumstances, but, v6, when people criticise us or oppose us, they might realise their stupidity, and be ashamed of their slander. Such shame might, in God's kindness, bring them to repentance and faith in Jesus.

Perhaps it will save them from the fear of man and help them to fear the One who is holy, and who alone has eternity in the palms of his hands.

PS John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life is well worth a read if you want to explore what it really means to live free of the fear of the world and in the fear and honour of God.