Purifying fire
This week is on 1 Peter 4:12-17:
These verses were written in a letter from Peter (yes that Peter), during a time of persecution of the early church. In the early days of Christianity, Christians weren't really thought highly of by the society around them. They were seen as heretic cult members by the Jews, and as a threat to the Emperor's power base in the Roman empire. They were being crushed from both directions. Even though they did good things and lived righteous lives, they were being picked on and picked off.
Some Christians began to look down on non-believers and discriminate against them, the same as isolated cliques always have. Others began to consider fighting back against the Romans, for the same reasons the French resistance, or American minutemen, or other insurgency groups throughout history took up arms against their governments. A big divide was starting to form, not because of Christ, but because of factors that have always existed when a diverse society begins to turn in on itself, or when an invader takes new territory.
Peter tries to put an end to it by putting things in perspective. Persecution is to be expected. It's a bonding experience with God, not proof of his neglect. Christ didn't die to start yet another political party or found another worldly empire. Jesus died to pay for our sins and the sins of the people who try to drive him and his church from the earth. Attacking them back misses the whole point. We're supposed to be the ones who get it, not the ones who "know not what they do." Peter knows this because Peter once swung a sword at someone trying to persecute Christ and his church.
Peter is like, "Look, what good is it to anyone if you're crucified for being a thief, or a murderer, or a troublemaker?" Anyone can be punished for those things, and should be. What martyrdom is there for being arrested for trying to blow up an abortion clinic, or plotting to kill Adolf Hitler, or for getting arrested protesting gay marriage? Compare that for being imprisoned for sharing the truth about Jesus, or for smuggling Bibles, or for feeding the homeless. There's no way that being killed fighting to remove a brutal dictator from power, for instance, could measure up to the glory of something like being killed for converting from Islam to Christianity.
Doing what God commands us to do is not wrong. The persecutors are the aggressors in that case. The difference between God's love and the world's hatred is made clear. Doing what we think will make the world a better place, while causing harm, loss, or societal strife just makes us criminals. The persecutors are the agents of justice in that case. There is no visible difference between God's kingdom and the kingdom pressing charges. We might as well be ISIS.
If you are persecuted for being a Christian, then it's something to be happy about. It means someone has found evidence that you're a Christian! It also means you'll get a chance to emulate Christ's experience. It's a test of how well you can stick to your faith. Being thrown in jail for owning a Bible, or being tortured and killed for sharing your faith, really forces the decision of whether you believe all of this stuff is real. If you're just going along to get along, you're not going to stay a Christian for very long in that environment.
Persecution purifies the church and purifies the soul. In the underground church, there are very few "nominal Christians." If being seen in church ruins your career prospects, endangers your family, and may land you in prison or a mass grave, are you just going to show up to feel better about yourself and signal virtue to your colleagues? Either you're a serious believer or you're not going to come within a mile of that church! And if owning a Bible or talking about God brings such a great penalty, are you going to let that Bible gather dust on a shelf or have shallow conversations about God? Not at all! You're going to eat it up like a starving man and make every precious bit count!
Peter describes it as it being time for judgment to begin with the church. How do people measure up when it counts? Do they revert back to the world's teaching and become exploiters and insurgents? Or do they continue to follow Christ and love those in the corrupt world with costly love, as he did? If we're being judged by our decisions under such pressure, what will happen if we abandon Christ? It's a question I hope we never have to find out the answer to.
We live in interesting times now where we may live to see persecution in the western world. People under totalitarian regimes and Muslim countries already see it. When the fire of persecution comes, we have a choice to make. What will get burned away, and what will remain? Is your career more important than your faith? Is your family? Your health? Your money? Your friends? Your place in society? Your citizenship? Will you be purified, or will the church be purified of you? Pray that if we have to make the choice that we make the right one.
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
These verses were written in a letter from Peter (yes that Peter), during a time of persecution of the early church. In the early days of Christianity, Christians weren't really thought highly of by the society around them. They were seen as heretic cult members by the Jews, and as a threat to the Emperor's power base in the Roman empire. They were being crushed from both directions. Even though they did good things and lived righteous lives, they were being picked on and picked off.
Some Christians began to look down on non-believers and discriminate against them, the same as isolated cliques always have. Others began to consider fighting back against the Romans, for the same reasons the French resistance, or American minutemen, or other insurgency groups throughout history took up arms against their governments. A big divide was starting to form, not because of Christ, but because of factors that have always existed when a diverse society begins to turn in on itself, or when an invader takes new territory.
Peter tries to put an end to it by putting things in perspective. Persecution is to be expected. It's a bonding experience with God, not proof of his neglect. Christ didn't die to start yet another political party or found another worldly empire. Jesus died to pay for our sins and the sins of the people who try to drive him and his church from the earth. Attacking them back misses the whole point. We're supposed to be the ones who get it, not the ones who "know not what they do." Peter knows this because Peter once swung a sword at someone trying to persecute Christ and his church.
Peter is like, "Look, what good is it to anyone if you're crucified for being a thief, or a murderer, or a troublemaker?" Anyone can be punished for those things, and should be. What martyrdom is there for being arrested for trying to blow up an abortion clinic, or plotting to kill Adolf Hitler, or for getting arrested protesting gay marriage? Compare that for being imprisoned for sharing the truth about Jesus, or for smuggling Bibles, or for feeding the homeless. There's no way that being killed fighting to remove a brutal dictator from power, for instance, could measure up to the glory of something like being killed for converting from Islam to Christianity.
Doing what God commands us to do is not wrong. The persecutors are the aggressors in that case. The difference between God's love and the world's hatred is made clear. Doing what we think will make the world a better place, while causing harm, loss, or societal strife just makes us criminals. The persecutors are the agents of justice in that case. There is no visible difference between God's kingdom and the kingdom pressing charges. We might as well be ISIS.
If you are persecuted for being a Christian, then it's something to be happy about. It means someone has found evidence that you're a Christian! It also means you'll get a chance to emulate Christ's experience. It's a test of how well you can stick to your faith. Being thrown in jail for owning a Bible, or being tortured and killed for sharing your faith, really forces the decision of whether you believe all of this stuff is real. If you're just going along to get along, you're not going to stay a Christian for very long in that environment.
Persecution purifies the church and purifies the soul. In the underground church, there are very few "nominal Christians." If being seen in church ruins your career prospects, endangers your family, and may land you in prison or a mass grave, are you just going to show up to feel better about yourself and signal virtue to your colleagues? Either you're a serious believer or you're not going to come within a mile of that church! And if owning a Bible or talking about God brings such a great penalty, are you going to let that Bible gather dust on a shelf or have shallow conversations about God? Not at all! You're going to eat it up like a starving man and make every precious bit count!
Peter describes it as it being time for judgment to begin with the church. How do people measure up when it counts? Do they revert back to the world's teaching and become exploiters and insurgents? Or do they continue to follow Christ and love those in the corrupt world with costly love, as he did? If we're being judged by our decisions under such pressure, what will happen if we abandon Christ? It's a question I hope we never have to find out the answer to.
We live in interesting times now where we may live to see persecution in the western world. People under totalitarian regimes and Muslim countries already see it. When the fire of persecution comes, we have a choice to make. What will get burned away, and what will remain? Is your career more important than your faith? Is your family? Your health? Your money? Your friends? Your place in society? Your citizenship? Will you be purified, or will the church be purified of you? Pray that if we have to make the choice that we make the right one.
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