Lives that Proclaim Christ - audio
Reading through this first letter of Peter it’d be easy to wonder whether the situation he’s writing to has any relevance to us today in our nice safe suburban setting.
Think about how he describes his hearers at the start of the letter: “Exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”. In other words these are largely Jewish converts who’ve been forced to escape persecution in Jerusalem and move to Asia Minor, plus some local converts of course. So they’re mostly refugees and as both Jews and as Christian converts they continue to suffer under persecution. You’ll remember the account that Luke gives of the many places where Paul was hounded by Jews trying to stop him preaching the gospel. Well, that’s what these Christians are experiencing.
So he writes to remind them of the gospel that they’ve heard and believed; particularly of the sur hope of eternal life and of Jesus’ promised return; and to encourage them to persevere in their faith.
So in chapter 1 we saw a few weeks ago he urges them to prepare their minds for action; to discipline themselves and to set all their hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he’s revealed. He says “15As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
Then he goes on to give them a long description of the sort of behaviour that goes with believing in Jesus Christ.
He says “Rid yourselves of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Instead long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation.”
He says “12Conduct yourselves honourably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honourable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.” This is perhaps the key to what he’s saying’
Last week Ros brought us his instructions about accepting the various levels of authority that we encounter in our daily life.
All of this was important for these new converts if they were to remain faithful in the face of great persecution, but is it still relevant to us in our comfortable middle-class setting and in a culture that’s so far removed from that of the 1st century? Well, I think as you read through the things he encourages them to do you realise that nothing has changed, really. Well, the level of persecution has changed, for most of us, in the west at least; but the model of Christian living he presents is just as relevant today as it was then even if our cultural setting is different.
We still live in a world where we’re in the minority, even if Australia does appear to be at least a notionally Christian country. My observation is that the values of those around us have moved a long way from Christian values over the past 40 or 50 years. Let’s face it, Christians have sort of disappeared from public discourse, except as people to look down on because of the moral failures of some of our leaders. Here in Carlton we’ve probably done well, in that we’re known for our playgroup, no doubt we’re known as a supporter of indigenous causes and maybe of refugees. But there’s a lot still to be done in terms of actually sharing the gospel with those around us. So what we read here still has relevance for us.
Today we come to the end of his description of behaviours that will express the gospel.
He says “finally” but notice this is still only chapter 3. There’s more to come so make sure you’re here for the next few weeks.
Finally comes a long list of behaviours; all of which will make a difference not just to our life together but to the image we project to the world around us.
Unity of Spirit
So, Unity of Spirit. I’m part of a Diocesan group who get called out every now and then to deal with conflict situations in Parishes and I’m always so disappointed when I hear what’s been going on. The conflict is never between the church and its neighbours; it’s always between individuals in the congregation; even between leaders of the congregation. And I think “What happened to Christian love and forgiveness? What happened to mutuality? What happened to showing grace and concern? What happened to listening to the other person?”
Notice, the term he uses here is unity of spirit. The NIV translates it “Like-mindedness”. In other words it’s a unity that comes from shared beliefs, shared attitudes. At the start of the letter he tells them “Prepare your minds for action.” This should be the one of the results of that preparation that he’s hoping for. We need to have minds that are working in sync, with each other, with God’s word and with the God’s Holy Spirit who will teach us if we let him.
I think this is something we shouldn’t take for granted. I know we appear to be well taught and united as a Parish but I also know that we’re a congregation with lots of strong-minded people who may not agree on everything. So we need to work on remaining united even when there are areas of difference; and what comes next may help us to deal with those differences.
Sympathy and Love for one another
So he says we’re to have sympathy and love for one another. I think we do fairly well at that here but I also know that love takes work. It’s never enough to just say, “I love you”. I also have to demonstrate it in the things I do and say, in the way I listen, in the way I compromise, in the way I go out of my way to please the other person, to serve their needs, in the way I show respect for them even when we have differences of opinion.
A tender heart, and a humble mind
What will help that, is if I have a tender heart and a humble mind. As I say that, my mind goes back to the descriptions of Jesus from my earliest days as a Christian, growing up. “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” was the description we were given as children wasn’t it? Probably an inadequate description but nevertheless a powerful one when we’re thinking in this context. Think of how he treated Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees who were working so hard against him, when he came to him at night with questions. He showed him respect and gently prodded him to widen his perspective on salvation. Think about the way he treated the woman with the flow of blood, easing her fears, commending her for her faith. In that same passage he tells Jairus not to fear, only believe, then he takes the dead girl by the hand and says, gently “Little girl, get up.” Think of his parable of the Good Samaritan, a stranger who went out of his way to show compassion to a man who he may have seen as an enemy. Jesus says this man is the epitome of love for our neighbour.
But of course, one of the great enemies of unity is pride. That is, the idea that I know best, or I deserve something that I’m not getting or that I can do something better than the other person.
Have you ever come across someone who thought the only way to do something right was to do it themselves? Have you ever thought it yourself? I’ve certainly been tempted, many time, to think like that. But humility stands against that sort of attitude. It says, “Let’s see how someone else might do it”; “Let’s give them a chance.” It admits that mine isn’t the only way to see an issue. Some of the great things that happened at St Thomas’ Burwood, when I was there, came about because I gave someone permission to try out their bright idea, often something I wouldn’t even have tried.
Respond to hurt with a blessing
But then he warns us about how we respond to personal insults or injuries. What’s your natural response when someone does something that hurts you? Perhaps an insult; or a broken promise; perhaps they ignore you; maybe you discover they’ve been talking about you behind your back. What do you do? Do you ever respond with a blessing? That’s pretty radical isn’t it? And counter intuitive; countercultural in fact. Are you surprised when you hear on the news a parent saying they want to forgive the person responsible for killing one of their children in a car accident? It sounds like a hard thing to do, doesn’t it? Yet that’s what Jesus told us to do. “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Now in Peter’s day that hurt may well have been physical or at least material but it's just as important today when our hurts are likely to be much more ephemeral.
Notice the reason he gives - that you might inherit a blessing. Our ultimate blessing of course is assured by Jesus’ death on the cross but the appropriate response to that blessing is to bless others and when we do that we reassure ourselves of that blessing.
The psalm he quotes is also a warning not to take our status as God’s children for granted. God notices and cares about how we live out our new life in his name.
Be eager to do good
It should be a given that we seek to do good, but we’re all human so Satan loves to tempt us to do wrong. But we’re encouraged here to be eager to do good. Are you always eager to do good? I mean, it can be inconvenient at times can’t it?
I love that song from My Fair Lady “With a little bit of luck.”
The Lord above made man to help ’is neighbour,
No matter where, on land, or sea, or foam.
The Lord above made man to help his neighbour-but
With a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck,
When he comes around you won't be home!
Does that resonate with you?
But no, we’re to be eager to do good. In Peter’s context the result would be that their opponents wouldn’t have any reason to harm them and even if they do, God will have seen what happened and will bless them, he says.
By the way. does it strike you what a long timeframe they had in terms of waiting for God’s blessing? Have we lost that eternal perspective in our lives. They faced the very real possibility of suffering or even death, yet they were able to look to God’s future blessing as recompense. I’m not sure we think like that at all now, do we? Patiently waiting isn’t one of our culture’s strengths. Maybe we need to work on that as well.
Be ready to make a defence for the hope that is in you
Notice that he’s not suggesting they should passively accept the opposition they face. In fact he suggests they prepare for it by having a defence ready to give for the hope that’s in them. In other words they’re to do some evangelism training, perhaps; make sure they understand the story of Jesus, the basic theology of salvation; think about how to express the grace of God in a way that their hearers will understand. In other words they needed to do exactly what we need to do. Have we thought through how we’d answer someone who asked why we gather here on Sundays? Or why we run a playgroup on a Tuesday. Or why our funeral services seem so positive, thinking about John Sewell’s funeral last Monday.
Notice though his warning about speaking with gentleness and reverence. Jesus’ expression was “Seasoned with salt”.
As I said earlier, in Chapter 2 he tells them “12Conduct yourselves honourably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honourable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.” The same idea applies here: if we respond to people with gentleness and respect they’re much more likely to listen to us.
Keep your conscience clear
So he says, “Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.”
I guess if we’re really eager to do good then that should help us to keep our conscience clear, but even so there’ll be times when we slip up, fail, in which case we need to fix it: apologise, mend relationships, admit our faults, etc. I guess that comes back to humility doesn’t it? Am I willing to admit that I made a mistake, that I did, or said, the wrong thing?
It's amazing what a difference that can make, isn’t it?
I don’t expect that we’re going to suffer for our faith much in Australia at the moment, though some Christians might get into trouble if they insist on ethical behaviour in some workplaces, but still, these types of behaviour we’re encouraged to make ours here, are just as relevant in our post-Christian context as they were then. We need people to see us as different in such a positive way that they want to know our secret.
None of this is particularly complicated or clever, is it? Some of it may be hard to do consistently but it’s what we’re called to as Christ’s disciples. If we can manage it, it’ll make for a great atmosphere when we gather together; and it may have an impact on our conversations with those outside the church. So let’s pray that God would help us to do it.
