Don’t Just Hang in There; Stand Firm!
Introduction: Persecution of the church in our country does not usually consist ot direct attacks on our places of worship or our teachings but rather indirect attacks on the moral and social issues that are inherent to our faith. Ten days ago the city of Philadelphia joined four states (Mass., Illinois, Calif, and I believe Connecticut) in denying Catholic Social Services (and any other adoption agency, like the evangelical Bethany Christian Services) from placing children in adoptive or foster homes because they insisted on placing children with a father and a mother. In other words, they won’t place them with same-sex couples. Catholic Charities is the largest placement service in Philadelphia. Just a few weeks ago the city issued an urgent request for 300 additional foster care homes, but the mayor and the city council would rather have those children left in danger than to be placed by Catholic Charities.
In California a law was recently passed to force pro-life organizations to tell patients about free abortion services that are available from the state (and to print it in 13 languages so that all those who don’t speak English get the information. Of course, there is no requirement there to force abortion facilities to tell patients about adoptive services. Thankfully, though a circuit court upheld the law, the Supreme Court says they are going to take it up. These are just a couple of the kinds of opposition Christians are facing today.
The church today exists in what some are calling a post-Christian environment. Where Christianity was once the dominant spiritual influence in people’s lives, it is now no longer the choice for most people looking for answers about God. Instead of checking out a church, those under 35 are more likely to satisfy their spiritual hunger by joining a discussion of UFOs on Twitter, visiting a web site about neo-paganism, or embracing native American religious practices. As our nation becomes more religiously pluralistic, our Christian faith will undoubtedly become increasingly challenged, misunderstood and marginalized. The moral positions we take privately or champion publicly will be ridiculed. The exclusive claims of Jesus will be considered intolerant and insensitive to other cultures and their religious traditions.
Listen to this email someone in our congregation received from her niece. When asked by her aunt about her religious interest, she replied this way.
. . . about the religious stuff… I consider myself, for lack of a better term, agnostic. I am spiritual, but not religious. I can’t really buy any of the structure of organized religion and the way it tells you how to pray and honor your god. it is intensely private for me, and I know too many people who use the structure of church to criticize and feel holier‑than‑thou. not to mention the fact that organized religion has been used for years to justify oppression and colonization.
I guess I think that how can one religion be right? if one is, everyone else in the world is in the religious minority‑‑no major world religion has a majority. would a benevolent god really punish most of the world’s population? I don’t think so. also, she or he would understand my analytical mind, my inability to have faith in things I cannot see, and know that I live my life the best that I can and try to love other people and treat them well. I can’t imagine that any god would feel just in accepting a Christian who professes love for Jesus, etc., but just doesn’t live a very good life and rejecting a woman who is looking very hard for answers to life’s questions and believes in human rights and doing good things, but simply cannot force herself to believe in one organized religion’s construction of “god”. yes, I have had teaching in religion, but I have come to my own views . . .
As our faith is challenged, Christians tend to respond in different ways. Some of us respond by gathering in a holy huddle, lamenting this reality, and wishing things would just return to the way they used to be. Others get angry and send nasty letters to the editor. Still others lose their nerve and wonder if following Jesus is worth the social costs, motivating them to make compromises to lifestyle so they don’t stick out so much on campus, in the neighborhood or on the job. Others may even get mad at God for not rewarding their faithfulness.
We forget too easily that the early church emerged and actually thrived in a far more religiously pluralistic culture than ours. They faced far more persecution. In the early chapters of Acts the Apostles are arrested multiple times and thrown into prison. After Stephen is stoned (Acts 7) Saul extends the persecution to the members of the church in Jerusalem and they are either arrested or driven out, but everywhere they went they preached the Gospel. Of course, persecution followed wherever they went. Paul walked the streets of Athens and observed that the city was full of idols. Jews were given a special exemption from taking part in the Roman cult of emperor-worship, but when Christians refused, it was interpreted as being unpatriotic. Given their devotion to a dead man from the backwater town of Nazareth and their strange practice of eating the body and blood of their leader, the early Christian movement was ripe for misunderstanding.
While Paul’s letters usually address issues arising from within the church, often in response to particular questions, Peter’s first letter addresses issues arising from the culture in which the church exists. Peter is writing around AD 62 to 63, roughly 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. That’s important because in 64 a great fire breaks out in Rome. As rumors begin to surface blaming Nero for the fire, he shifts the blame to the growing population of people who are followers of Jesus.
Just forty years later the historian Tacitus writes about that time in this way: “To kill the rumors, Nero charged and tortured some people hated for their evil practices – the group popularly known as ‘Christians’ … First, those who confessed to being Christians were arrested. Then, on information obtained from them, hundreds were convicted, more for anti-social beliefs than for fire-raising. In their deaths they were made a mockery. They were covered in the skins of wild animals, torn to death by dogs, crucified, or set on fire – so that when darkness fell they burned like torches in the night . . .”[i]
Why is all this history important? Because it helps us understand that Peter is writing to churches during the dawning of persecution, churches living in a culture much like ours is becoming. If we listen closely to the text it will help us know how to respond as a community of believers in the 21stcentury.
Peter’s exhortation to the churches is unlike the conventional wisdom in the church today. He doesn’t tell them to organize politically to lobby Nero. Peter challenges them to live out their faith with courage and conviction. He challenges them to stand fast in the grace of God. His theme is given at the end of the book, 5:12, where Peter concludes his letter, “I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.”
Joe Stout always has a response to anyone who tells him to “Hang in there!” Instead he says, “Don’t hang in there, stand firm.” Over the next several months Peter will teach us how to stand firm in an age of pluralism and intolerance and persecution. In our passage today, he lays the first stones of the foundation on which we are to stand firm:
Let’s read the text: 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Standing Firm means embracing our dual identity. (1:1-2)
Peter identifies his readers in two ways: “elect exiles.” One is very positive; the other negative. The first is an identity from heaven. The second is an identity from earth. The first is an eternal description of believers. The second is a temporary one. Both identities need to be embraced in order to stand firm. A believer’s first identity is that . . .
We were chosen by the Father through the Spirit for the Son. The NIV uses the word “chosen,” which is the essential meaning of the term “elect.” In fact, I generally like to use it because the term election is so loaded. Here’s how the NIV describes God’s elect: “who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.” (1 Peter 1:1-2)
The first thing I notice here is that Peter refers to the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. The OT and NT agree completely that there is one true God. But though there is just one God, there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and they are very frequently mentioned together in the same passage. Since the 2nd century, Christians have used the term “Trinity” when they are speaking of this unique relationship of oneness and tri-ness. Every person of the Trinity is equal in substance and subsistence; each shares all divine attributes individually and identically; and each shares power, majesty, holiness, and glory.[ii] But though there is unity among the persons of God, there is diversity and distinction in their roles and relationships to each other and to people.
In this greeting, we see this diversity of roles in achieving salvation for an individual. The Father’s role is to choose in His foreknowledge. Stop there a moment. Some people who struggle with election try to soften its implications by suggesting that God foreknows (i.e. He knows in advance who will be saved) but He doesn’t make it happen. But let me ask you this question: If God knows in advance that something is going to happen, can it not happen? Of course not, because then He didn’t know it; He just guessed it.
Foreknowledge implies foreordination. It includes the deliberate and intentional choice God makes to extend his affection upon an individual. It is a choice made by him from the beginning of time. Does that mean we are coerced or manipulated? No. If God’s choice were coercive, why would the Scriptures plead with us to believe and to repent? But it does mean we are the undeserving recipients of God’s special favor? Yes, definitely. The fact that He chooses us before we choose Him and He does so while we were yet sinners and His enemies, is ultimately an expression of His love.
The Father’s choice becomes a reality in our lives by the working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the person the Father chooses to set His affections upon. To sanctify means to set apart for special purposes.
And what special purpose does the Father have for those set apart by the Holy Spirit? To have the blood of Jesus applied to their lives to forgive them of sin and live lives of obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord.
Why does Peter address them and us this way? Is it to raise confusing questions about free will and the sovereignty of God? Far from it. He addresses us this way because this identity should encourage and comfort us. Rather than view ourselves as a marginalized minority, we need to realize that the living God has worked intentionally, deliberately and powerfully so that we can have a relationship with him. Stand Firm. Don’t cave.
A believer’s second identity is not quite so comforting.
Yet we are exiles in this world. “To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” The NASB uses a courser term, “aliens.” It speaks of those who are temporary residents, ex-patriots, away from their true homeland, people who don’t completely fit into the surrounding culture in which they reside. They are strangers to the customs, the language and the values of those around them. Now the early Christians were in large part actual aliens, in that they were part of the Diaspora. But even many of those who were born in these places came to be treated as exiles in their own countries.
Why does Peter address them this way? As Christians who are feeling the flames of persecution, embracing this reality reminds them of why they feel out of place no matter where they live. Their feelings of being disoriented are normal, because that is exactly how one should feel when visiting a land that will never be home.
At his Intimate Allies conference Dan Allender made the comment that for the person who is not a Christian, life on earth is the closest experience that they will have to heaven. In contrast, for the Christian, earth is the closest experience we will have to hell. In his opinion, one of the problems with the American church is that too many of us believe we should be experiencing more heaven on earth than we do.
So how do we summarize Peter’s greeting? When you are misunderstood, ridiculed, or confronted for your faith, stand firm. Live out the identity that God’s true grace has brought to your life—you are one chosen by God, though an ex-patriot here on earth.
Standing firm means rejoicing in salvation despite the trials faith brings. (1:3-9)
The emerging church of the first century was not a politically powerful group. They did not have highly organized evangelical organizations that could lobby Rome or take a moral stand on the radio or TV or the internet. But they did attract enough negative press to bring out various kinds of suffering for their faith.
Despite these trials, Peter says they experienced great joy. In verse 8, he describes it as an “inexpressible and glorious joy.” What could possibly bring joy to life when so much happened negatively because of their faith? Peter says it is salvation itself. Salvation is the most amazingly joyous thing, but to understand this, one must understand what salvation is not, as well as what it is.
Many people think that Christianity fits the following equation: God’s grace plus my faithful efforts leads to my eternal salvation and a relationship with Him. God plays the most important part but I must perform well in order to maintain and keep my salvation. I have to stay in God’s good graces. That may mean religious activities or a moral lifestyle or donating time and finances to causes that help others. This is not Christianity and it does not produce joy.
Joy is possible, though, because there is an alternative view of salvation. Let’s see if we can unpack it from verses 3-5. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5) Wow! First,
Salvation is a gift from God. That which motivates God to provide salvation is his mercy. Mercy is His compassion upon those who are wretched and helpless and hopeless, which wells up in Him when he watches us struggle in vain to connect with him. Our flight from him has left us incapable to find our way because our sins against him have wrecked our ability to correct our own course.
It was James Boice who said there are only three possibilities concerning the nature of mankind:
He is well. That’s liberalism.
He is sick. That’s conservatism.
He is dead. That’s Christianity.
One evening a member of the Jewish ruling council named Nicodemus came to Jesus searching for spiritual answers. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.” (John 3:3-7, NLT). Jesus is saying that people need more than tips from Dale Carnegie or Steven Covey. We need a whole new start at life. And that is exactly what God offers us—He causes us to be born again.
Salvation provides a living hope. What makes it living is that hope is focused on a living person and a unique historical event. The person is Jesus. The event is his resurrection from the dead. Jesus died for our sins so we wouldn’t have to pay for years of rebellious fleeing from God. He not only died but rose again. He is still alive. If He didn’t rise from the dead, all we’ve got is another dead guy who was a good religious leader. The world is full of them. The resurrection of Jesus is so important because it is the evidence that death has been conquered. And we no longer have to fear death.
Salvation promises a permanent inheritance. Verse 4 continues, “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” The inheritance he is talking about is our future salvation, the blessing of spending eternity with God. It is an inheritance that we can’t lose because God holds the keys to the safety deposit box.
The first equation we spoke of is not Christianity. It leads to a life lived in fear. Am I doing enough? Have I finally blown it? Have I pushed God too far? The second view leads to a life lived in joy and thankfulness because it is a gift with not just a lifetime guaranty but an eternal guarantee.
Yet God allows trials in our lives to test and refine our faith. (6-7) When trials come, take heart. Peter says that trials like these are normal and are to be expected. The Lord allows them to come into our life on purpose, and the purpose is to test the genuineness of our faith. It seems on the surface that God would shield His people from trials. But faith is more valuable to God than gold. It is worth refining to make it more pure. What is it about our faith that needs refining? Well, our motives can be very mixed. How often do we pursue God with a pure heart? In fact, how often do we do anything out of pure motives?
Verses 8-9 elaborate on the joy we can and should have as believers. There is a contrast here between the sight of Jesus and the knowledge of Him by faith. Peter’s readers had not seen Jesus during His earthly life, as Peter himself had done, yet they were giving Him the responsive love of their hearts in living fellowship. The verb “believe” in verse 8 is in the present continuous tense. It describes an habitual activity. Believing finds full expression when the person exercising faith comes to Jesus with glorious joy. How many of us experience this with any regularity?
The joy he is talking about is “inexpressible.” I suspect this means it is not something that can be verbalized but it is felt very deeply.
Summary: Standing firm means embracing our dual identity as God’s chosen people yet exiles. It also means finding joy in your salvation. Peter lays one more stone in his foundation.
Standing firm means recognizing how we are served by the prophets and the angels. (1 Peter 1:10-12)
In verses 10 through 12, Peter tells us that the ministry of Old Testament prophets was to speak about the coming grace. They were told that the Messiah, the agent of grace, would suffer first and then experience glory.
The prophets searched intently to understand what we know. They saw a glimpse of grace and it whetted their appetite. They wanted to know when it would be brought to fruition and what it would be like when the Savior would come. They never knew the fullness of the revelation that we know. They died wanting more.
Then at the end verse 12, Peter almost in passing, adds
The angels long to examine the salvation we have experienced. “The angels long to even consider the salvation you have experienced.” Question: Why? Angels have not experienced the salvation God has provided for us. They watch us and see grace applied and lived out. As they watch, it peaks their curiosity. They love to study it, understand it and through it understand God even more.
Summary: Our salvation did not drop out of the sky a few years ago. God has been writing the story that includes you from the beginning. It is a great privilege to live in AD and not BC. It is a privilege to be a human being and not an angel. We know, experience, and live out what others could only guess at and angels can only wish to study.
Conclusion. On the night Jesus was arrested, when questioned about his relationship to Jesus, Peter caved. His faith buckled. But what a turn-around! Here he is now 30 years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. He has served as leader, pastor, and teacher to a movement of churches. As he writes this letter encouraging us to stand firm, little does he know how full circle his life will come. It is believed that Peter was martyred in Rome around 64 during Nero’s persecution. When his faith was in the fire, he stood firm in the true grace of God. He has plenty of credibility to speak to us. Let’s follow his example.
DATE: June 3, 2018
Tags:
Persecution
Trials
Angels
[i]. Tacitus, Annals 15:44 taken from Eerdmans Handbook to the History of Christianity, 1977, p. 71
[ii]. see Matthew 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14, 1 Peter 1:2, Jude 24-25.