Easter Devotional - Day 49
"Don't be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God that you belong to him. God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message. The Scriptures say, 'If good people barely escape, what will happen to sinners and to others who don't respect God?' If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right." 1 Peter 4:16-19
This passage seems a reversal on our popular notions of and angry God in the Old Testament and a loving God in the New. Certainly, Peter comes from a background that would tend to emphasize God's judgment more than we see in the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. At work here is also the idea common in Judaism of the day that everything that happened for our good or ill was tied closely with God's operant will. While that is also a common thread in the increasingly popular versions of a Calvinistic theology, there is more going on here than such an interpretation would adequately explain.
Peter is not addressing concerns over minor difficulties in the scope of life. He is not interested in a concept of God's controlling any and all events in our lives. To be sure, he offers in the immediate context words stipulating an active choice in our response to events surrounding us. Rather, Peter is looking to a time of active judgment in the world—a time when events stress and clarify the intent and character of groups and individuals.
We might be misled at first blush by the term judgment. It is not the same as condemnation or a call to account for one's actions. It is a time of clarifying—declaring who one's true identity and character. Peter points to something akin to a cardiac stress test. He saw in the events of persecution surrounding the emerging church a context in which one's faithfulness and commitment to Christ Jesus was being questioned, weighed, measured, or judged by the character of one's response to adversity.
Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70, and Judaism was re-orienting itself with the loss of the Temple. Believers in Christ were being shoved out of the circle of Judaism and seeking their own new sense of identity, as well. They were no longer welcome under the protective umbrella of Judaism before the Roman laws and demands for participation in Roman cultic practices. They found themselves attacked and pressed from Gentiles and Jews alike. It was a time to test the mettle of one's commitment and faith in Christ Jesus. For the sake of Christ and faithfulness to the gospel they might be imprisoned, beaten, tortured, or killed.
Peter called for a different perspective on the issues as hand. Similar to John's later message in Revelation, they were to allow the time of testing and pressure to clarify the reality of their faith—their commitment to the gospel of Christ, despite the opposition of the world in which they lived. It would do them no good to bow before the demands of society and refuse Christ. They were rather to accept that to follow Christ Jesus might well mean participation with Christ Jesus in their own crucifixion. It was time to declare the reality of their faith, regardless of the short term cost.
Are we ready to look beyond the short term cost of discipleship to follow Christ in faithfulness?
Determine where it is that you are prone to place limits on God's call to faithful service.
"Lord, grant me the clarity to see life from the perspective of eternity and the example of Jesus."
—©Copyright 2009, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
This passage seems a reversal on our popular notions of and angry God in the Old Testament and a loving God in the New. Certainly, Peter comes from a background that would tend to emphasize God's judgment more than we see in the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. At work here is also the idea common in Judaism of the day that everything that happened for our good or ill was tied closely with God's operant will. While that is also a common thread in the increasingly popular versions of a Calvinistic theology, there is more going on here than such an interpretation would adequately explain.
Peter is not addressing concerns over minor difficulties in the scope of life. He is not interested in a concept of God's controlling any and all events in our lives. To be sure, he offers in the immediate context words stipulating an active choice in our response to events surrounding us. Rather, Peter is looking to a time of active judgment in the world—a time when events stress and clarify the intent and character of groups and individuals.
We might be misled at first blush by the term judgment. It is not the same as condemnation or a call to account for one's actions. It is a time of clarifying—declaring who one's true identity and character. Peter points to something akin to a cardiac stress test. He saw in the events of persecution surrounding the emerging church a context in which one's faithfulness and commitment to Christ Jesus was being questioned, weighed, measured, or judged by the character of one's response to adversity.
Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70, and Judaism was re-orienting itself with the loss of the Temple. Believers in Christ were being shoved out of the circle of Judaism and seeking their own new sense of identity, as well. They were no longer welcome under the protective umbrella of Judaism before the Roman laws and demands for participation in Roman cultic practices. They found themselves attacked and pressed from Gentiles and Jews alike. It was a time to test the mettle of one's commitment and faith in Christ Jesus. For the sake of Christ and faithfulness to the gospel they might be imprisoned, beaten, tortured, or killed.
Peter called for a different perspective on the issues as hand. Similar to John's later message in Revelation, they were to allow the time of testing and pressure to clarify the reality of their faith—their commitment to the gospel of Christ, despite the opposition of the world in which they lived. It would do them no good to bow before the demands of society and refuse Christ. They were rather to accept that to follow Christ Jesus might well mean participation with Christ Jesus in their own crucifixion. It was time to declare the reality of their faith, regardless of the short term cost.
Are we ready to look beyond the short term cost of discipleship to follow Christ in faithfulness?
Determine where it is that you are prone to place limits on God's call to faithful service.
"Lord, grant me the clarity to see life from the perspective of eternity and the example of Jesus."
—©Copyright 2009, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
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