Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body has finished with sin.” NIV

We saw yesterday that an attitude can be an armament. Peter is calling his readers to fortify themselves with a certain ‘’attitude’’ towards ‘’suffering’’. People who follow Christ, He who suffered so intensely to do away with sin, cannot expect to lie back in a warm bath of ease. Suffering is part of normal Christian experience. Christianity is ‘cruciform’ in shape.

But I have been struck by the idea that the principle of arming yourself with a certain attitude can be applied to other areas of discipleship. I believe C.S. Lewis furnishes an excellent example of this in his book ‘Mere Christianity’:

‘The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at your like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day…We can do it only for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our systems because now we are letting him work at the right part of us.’

^“17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” NIV

As we have seen, Peter is writing in this section about ‘the good life.’

It seems that living such a life will give us opportunities to speak about our Christian faith (15).

That said, we should not expect to be universally popular (16). There will be opponents. Peter knows that this is counter-intuitive (13), but it happens (14). The persecution of unbelievers is an unpleasant reality of life in this world. We have to face up to it.

Peter’s conclusion is this:

‘’It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil’’ (17).

Then he shows that Jesus is the supreme example of unjust suffering (18). He did not deserve to die. But I feel the implicit encouragement in this text is that Jesus’ suffering was not wasted. It was productive: ‘’to bring you to God.’’ I think we are meant to infer that if we also have to suffer because it is ‘’God’s will’’, what we go through will not be wasted, however senseless it may seem.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord Jesus for this lovely statement of the gospel. Thank you that you died in my place, for my sins. I have done so much wrong. You did nothing wrong. But through your death you have brought me to God. I am so grateful. I pray my life and lips will always show my thanks.

One year ago, as we were reading Revelation 18 while on holiday, and afterwards, as I wrote these notes, the fall of ‘Babylon’ seemed somewhat theoretical. I certainly believed it would happen one day. But it felt distant and removed from every day realities at the time. Now, in the space of a few weeks, we have had at least a foretaste, and we can see how quickly it can happen. Just about all the great, prized institutions of the world (including the arts) have taken a huge hit. I repeat, I am not saying ‘This is that.’ I’m not saying we are living through the fall of ‘Babylon’. We could be, but this may also be a foreshadowing. What we do now know for certain though is that the world-system is built on sand. Despite it’s outward grandeur, it is incredibly fragile and cannot last.Let’s be sure we are building on the Rock of Christ and His Word.

Monday 3^rd June 2019: Revelation 18:21-24: Pied Piper

²¹ Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:  ‘With such violence

There can be no question that this present world system is on borrowed time. Its end will come (21). This message is hammered in with the repeated use of the word ‘’never’’.

It struck me as I read this that one of the ways ‘the world’ influences is by music. It is a ‘Pied Piper’. It casts a spell on people. It mesmerises. It influences in ways that go far deeper than logic. This is not to say that music is bad. Not at all. But we do need to try to analyse the messages the culture is preaching to us constantly. It comes at us through a variety of means. It will have us under its spell in no time if we are not on guard. The prevailing culture will ‘disciple’ us in its ways if we do not determine that we will be discipled by Scripture, God’s Word.

‘’By your magic spell all the nations were led astray’’ (23b).

In his book ‘Don’t waste your life’, John Piper says ‘America is the first culture in jeopardy of amusing itself to death.’ Western Europe can’t be far behind.

PRAYER: Lord, please awaken me to the cultural forces that will shape my life only too gladly, if I do not allow you to do the shaping. Help me to swim against the strong tide.

 (NB. After our short detour into Revelation we will be returning to 1 Peter tomorrow).

What we are going through may just be one of many ‘overtures’ to the ultimate fall of ‘Babylon, but be clear that Babylon’s days are numbered.

 Thursday 30^th May 2019: Revelation 18: 11-13: Soul-traders.

^“11 ‘The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more – ¹² cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; ¹³ cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.” NIV

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with trade. We live in an inter-connected world where people grow things, produce things, make things which others want and/or need, and are prepared to pay for. I can’t see that there is anything fundamentally wrong with the idea of goods fairly sold at a fair price. I don’t think the book of Revelation is condemning the normal processes of trading at this point. But, like everything else in the world, trade is now tainted by sin; it is contaminated by lust and greed, covetousness and dishonesty etc. Things get bought and sold that shouldn’t be. This also applies to people.

There is something slap you in the face shocking about the statement:

‘’…and bodies and souls of men’’ (13b).

 There is also something tragically contemporary about it. Human trafficking is a huge, corrupt, wicked business right now. We have modern forms of slavery.

Tom Wright explains its place in Roman times:

‘Slavery was to the ancient world, more or less, what steam, oil, gas, electricity and nuclear power are to the modern world. Slavery was how things got done. Life was almost literally unthinkable without it.

And yet John believed in the God of the Exodus, the God who sets slaves free. A huge amount of his book, as we have seen, was built up on the basis that what God did in Egypt he will do again, this time on a cosmic scale – and that the basic act of slave-freeing has already taken place with the sacrificial death of Jesus…(5.9)’ ‘Revelation for Everyone’ pp.164/165.

Slavery was the system upon which the ancient world was built. It was one of the expressions of ‘Babylon’ then, and it remains so now. But as we keep seeing, ‘Babylon’s’ days are numbered.

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” NIV

Peter is saying in this passage that the ‘’good’’ life is a blessed life (9b). But (and this is counter-intuitive) part of that blessing comes our way in persecution (14a). There are bad people who are opposed to the good life.

‘’Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?’’ It seems like a ‘no-brainer’. Who would want to hurt people who bring good to the world? But the sad, and realistic, truth is that there are plenty of such people out there. Peter goes on to highlight that there are ‘’those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ’’ (16). He recognises that a Christian can ‘’suffer for doing good’’ (17), and that this can be ‘’God’s will’’.

 So we must say that ‘the good life’ will not necessarily be an easy life. We should not expect it.

Again, the Peter who wrote these words was there on the hillside when Jesus said:

‘’Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’’ (Matthew 5:10 – 12).

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For,

In these verses Peter describes, and calls Christians to,‘the good life’. It is one in which we love others; where we seek to do them good, even though they may treat us bad. It’s about ‘’blessing’’ others (and consequently being blessed by God).

In the ‘Sermon on the mount’ Jesus taught: ‘’Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven’’ (Matthew 5:44,45b).

In the previous section we saw the importance of prayer at the heart of marriage (7). It struck me just the other day that this is its ‘next door neighbour’ passage, and it too has prayer at its heart (12). If we would live the good life, as it is described here (and see how different it looks to the world’s definition. Some of you will remember the ‘Martini’ adverts from a few years ago!), then we can only do it prayerfully. Prayer is the ‘engine room’ of the Christian life.

‘Little prayer, little power; some prayer, some power; much prayer, much power.’

PRAYER: Lord, teach us to pray.

^“8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” NIV

It’s interesting that among the various words used in this verse to call believers to loving harmony, there is also mention of humility.

Humility is good soil in which so many other lovely graces will bloom. It is absolutely essential for peaceful relationships in the home, in the church…in fact anywhere! Pride is utterly destructive of human concord.

I find that when I feel hurt; when I think I’ve been badly done to or mistreated; if I take a long hard, honest look in the mirror, I usually see a lot of pride in the reflection. I think that for some reason I deserve better. Why do my thoughts travel in that direction? Because I think I’m more important than I am. What is that? Well, being quite clinical, it begins with ‘p’ and ends in ‘e’ and has ‘rid’ in the middle.

Towards the end of this letter Peter is to write:

‘’All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”^[

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.’’ (5:5b,6).

Remember God’s law of gravity: What goes down must come up! (See Philippians 2:1-11).

PRAYER: Lord, you call us to, in humility, consider others better than ourselves; to look not only to own interests but also to theirs. Lord you know me better than I know myself, and you know why I say to you, I’m going to need help with this. Even as I ask for your strength, I know it is already given, and I thank you.

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” NIV

^‘’Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.’’ The Message.

I appreciate that some who read these notes will be living alone. My heart goes out to you, especially if you’re finding it extra hard at the moment. But these words do apply to you, and you will be given many challenging opportunities in life to practice this teaching with people who live beyond your four walls:

‘’That goes for all, no exceptions’’.

 Nevertheless, please will you bear with me while I say a word to couples and families? It’s just this: that the behaviour Peter advocates is not merely a recipe for harmony in the local church. It starts at home, and arguably that may be (at least for some) the most difficult place to do this. These days of ‘lock-down’ could well have compounded the problems. But remember, in the early church, many Christian congregations would be located in homes, and made up of extended families. This teaching very much applies to home life.

But, thankfully, Peter does not envisage anyone having to live this way under their own steam – as we shall see.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I once heard that home is ‘the place where we are treated the best, and behave the worst.’ I pray this will not be true of my home, but with your help, let it be a place of harmony, peace and true Christian fellowship.