May 13, 2007

A View from the Pew

Happy Mother’s Day!  What a special day this is!  I know for many of you it may not have been an easy place to get to, for others, it may still be a difficult subject.  Even others, it may be the most wonderful notion you ever had.  But it’s more than a notion, isn’t it?  Motherhood was a big decision and was probably a very difficult journey to travel.  But when that baby was born, I imagine it was a completely wonderful moment, filled with relief and inexpressible joy.  There are probably very few days that you don’t think about what a blessing your child is or what a miracle their life is.

Personally, I can’t relate entirely with motherhood, though I’ve watched a beautiful woman practice it for years.  But I think I’ve had a small taste of the process.  You see, in fifteen days and some odd hours, my husband and I will have been married for a year.  As wonderful and celebratory as that is, it was not an entirely easy process to get to the altar.  I, like most other typical girls, had been planning my wedding all my life.  I knew how wonderful and amazing and spectacular it had to be.  But as many of you know, wedding planning is not always fun.  In fact, sometimes it can get downright ugly.  I remember one distinct day during wedding planning when my mom and I were sitting on the floor of the kitchen, just crying, trying to get things sorted out and make the big day into that wonderfully, amazing, spectacular day.  Long story short, it was the most wonderful, amazing, and spectacular day I have ever had: hands down, best day of my life.  There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of that day and want to relive it.  It was absolutely perfect.

    Sometimes life gets like that, doesn’t it?  We get so caught up in the momentary trials and the pain of where we’re at, that we forget about the rest of the story.  We forget that one day we’ll get to look back and see where we’ve been and say, “You know, that wasn’t quite so bad.  It was all worth it.” 

            1 Peter 1 talks about where we should be looking when we get bogged down in the details of life.  Peter says, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls… Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

            Peter is speaking here to the Christians who are being persecuted.  Most have fled to another land and have been scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.  What is interesting to note, all across this salutation, is the continual connection to the Jewish tradition and history that we find in the Old Testament.  The word scattered, as used here, has also been translated by "dispersion" and "diaspora." It was a technical term to describe Jews living outside Palestine. However, since 1 Peter was written to Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians rather than to Jewish Christians the word would refer to the fact that the Christian congregations addressed were spread across the several provinces listed.

             There is this picture, then, that is set up.  We have a group of Gentile Christians at a time when Christianity is coming of age.  It is neither popular nor socially acceptable to be Christian, not to mention the political persecution they endured.  These Christians had pressures on all sides and had to decide what it was going to look like for them to be believers in an unbelieving world.   How were they to handle themselves and the situations they found themselves in? 

            Peter comes into the picture with a letter written to such a people.  He uses language that connects them to Jewish history, including them in all the promises and hopes that are found within.  He lets them know that these promises are not just for the Jews who had once held all the privileges, but rather it was open and available to the Gentiles too.

            So, Peter begins by naming them as exiles, as foreigners in a particular land.  He not only relates them to the Jewish heritage but encourages them to realize, as well, that this world, this earth, is not their home.  They are visitors passing through, for but a moment, and their true citizenship is in heaven.

            He then speaks to them as chosen and destined.  Wow, those are loaded words.  The words used here, “chosen and destined” were once only applicable to the Jews.  Peter was writing to a people who needed to understand that they were also chosen by God in His foreknowledge.  He had planned that Jews and Gentiles alike would be called to follow Him and therefore be entitled to all the privileges of the people of God.  That Christ was not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles as well. 

            He finishes his opening statement by telling them they are sanctified by the Spirit and sprinkled with Christ’s blood.  This is not a statement as to their rights but rather their privileges.  Because they have been chosen and destined as God’s people, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and protected by the blood of Christ.  Romans 8 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.  Verses 37-39 say, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  There is nothing that can keep God from loving us.  Because of this, we are able to rest in His promises.

So why does Peter spend all this time establishing the rights and privileges of the people he is writing to?  So that they might believe in the living hope that exists within them.  Remember, Peter is writing to a group of people in the midst of terrible persecution.  They are fighting daily for their survival and trying to understand what kind of God would expect them to endure this.   Peter says, “Not only are you chosen and destined, not only are you filled with the Holy Spirit and protected by the blood of Christ, but you have things to look forward to!”  Christ came that we might live abundantly in this life and that we might enjoy eternity in heaven with Him, and Peter tells us all about it in the next few verses.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he has given us…” What?  “A new birth into a living hope...”  How?  “Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”  And where do we go from there?  We move “into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.”  Let’s unpack this for a few moments.  What is Peter really saying? 

I think it is helpful to note that he begins with praise for the One responsible for all he is going to write about in the next few verses.  So praise God!  And why are we praising God in this particular instance?  Because, he says, “through His mercy we have been given a new birth into a living hope.”  We don’t have to settle with our earthly birth and the struggles that brings.  Rather, we were born again, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  We know that God is saving up for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.”  It’s easy to breeze by these words and miss the miracle of them. 

Imperishable, undefiled, and unfading: can you think of anything that might fit in all those categories?  Imperishable: meaning uncorrupted, not liable to decay, it’s not going to go away, it will always be there.  Undefiled: Free from deformity, pure, holy, not messed up.  There is nothing wrong with it.  It is perfect, pure, and holy.  Unfading: not fading away, perennial.  It won’t change; it will always be as wonderful as it was at its inception.  These three descriptors put together create a picture of an unmovable, unshakable thing.  This will not go away, it will not change, it will not fade, and it is absolutely perfect, pure, and holy.  Even the earth fades and withers away, but this inheritance is here to stay both now and forevermore.  This is all kept for us in heaven.

As we move on into verse 6, we find out more about what type of perspective we should have if this is what has been promised to us.  Peter writes, “in this you rejoice.”  We rejoice in all that has been given us and stored for us in heaven.   Notice that it doesn’t say that you will be happy, successful, and no harm will ever come to you.  I think it’s very easy to confuse joy with happiness.  C. S. Lewis sheds great insight to this comparison in his sermon, The Weight of Glory.”  He says, “If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  We are far too easily pleased.  We miss the infinite joy that is offered us because we would rather satisfy ourselves with the temporal pleasures of this world.  There is a feeling that is far deeper and purer than happiness and temporal pleasure.  It is that infinite joy that is found when we truly know Christ, at a deep and personal level.

And sometimes that deep and personal level takes us to places we don’t want to go.  Peter continues on by saying “even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire…”  Peter brings us into an understanding of why, perhaps, people experience trials and suffering.  I’m not sure how many of you are aware of what it takes to purify gold, but it has an interesting parallel to the Christian faith.  When gold is purified, it is placed into huge vats and melted down into a liquid form.  During the melting stage, any impurities and dross within the gold will begin to make their way to the top of the gold and begin to float on the surface of the gold.   The refiner then takes a ladle and scoops up the impurities and dross from the gold. Now, the hotter the refiner makes the fire, the more dross and hidden impurities come to the surface, which creates a more pure and valuable gold than he would have had had he refined it at a lower temperature.  Once the gold is repoured and becomes solidified, the refiner knows he has done well in removing the impurities and dross if he can see himself in the reflection of the gold. 

“…So that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire.”  The hotter the fire, the more impurities float to the surface that can be removed to make a purer piece of gold.  Even this is perishable.  Even gold will fade and wither away.  But our faith, which is tested for genuineness through the fire, is eternal.  God wants to know that we will follow Him wherever He leads us, even when that means going through trials and sufferings.  And He wants to know that the result of our faith will be “praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  This can only occur through a faith that says, “Although I have not seen him, I love him.  Even though I do not see him now, I believe in him and rejoice with an indescribably and glorious joy because I know I am receiving salvation because of my faith.”

So what does all this mean?  How do we move this text into something tangible and life-changing?  Should we view our lives differently as a result of this living hope?  Max Lucado tells this story of an old man and his horse.  Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse that was majestic and strong.  Even the king coveted his treasure.  People offered him a lot of money for his horse but he refused because the horse was a friend to him.

One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. All the village came to see him and they scoffed at him for not selling the animal because he could not protect it.  They told him that he’d been cursed with misfortune and now his horse was gone. 

The old man responded, "Don't speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I've been cursed or not, how can you know? All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?"

The people of the village laughed and thought that he was crazy.  But, after fifteen days, the horse returned and brought back a dozen wild horses. He hadn't been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. "Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us."

The man responded, "Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don't judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?

"Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a fragment! Don't say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don't."  No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows."

            Our lives are truly only one page of the book, one sub-plot in the mix of a much larger storyline.  We cannot know exactly what God is intending with each place He brings us to.  We cannot understand fully what God wants to accomplish in each of our lives.  But we can see that God desires it be for good.  He wants for His name to be glorified in all the earth and for us to be reconciled to Him. 

            There is a joy that we can have and can express just because we are loved by God.  There is an expectation that we will live a certain lifestyle in light of this love, but God wants us to know what we can expect from His end: something far greater and far purer than anything we can anticipate or imagine this side of heaven.

            Living in light of eternity changes our perspective.  It brings us to a place where we can find freedom in walking with Christ.  We can live like Peter describes in verses 13-16 of chapter 1.  He says, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.  Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.  Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  He goes even further during verses 1-3 in chapter 2.  He writes, “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  Because we are chosen and precious in God’s sight, and because we have chosen to be obedient to Him, He asks us to live a life that reflects that love and obedience.  By knowing God more intimately, we desire to live more for Him than for ourselves.  As we come to know Him and come to trust Him, we can further set our hope on that grace that is to come.  When we understand that God does things from an eternal perspective, rather than the view from the pew, we see that the Lord really is good and desires the best for us.  He wants us to continually remember all the good things He has done for us and keep our hope set not on the temporal, the everyday, the earthly, but on the eternal.

Allison Yankey

Allison@mulberryumc.org