Among the Pagans

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1 Peter, Christianity, Faith, Goodness, Gospel, Paganism, Truth, Witness

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV)

Even Christian ethics has a missional aspect.  We do not live for ourselves, but for God; and so, the mission of God should be in focus when we think about our behavior.  Doing good, usually, is regarded positively by most people.  Goodness is winsome, and love is powerful.

Of course, faithful Christian living in a pagan society will get you accused of wrongdoing.  Every Christian in America today needs to understand this, because we want to be thought well of, we want to be considered good people, and that desire is being used against us.  That normal human desire for respectability has been used to get a whole lot of people on board with a whole lot of wicked nonsense.  But as the month of June has so forcefully reminded us, if the celebrities wouldn’t call you a hate-filled bigot, you’ve probably compromised on a biblical understanding of human sexuality.  If you don’t fall within the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights’ definition of a hateful extremist, you’ve probably let the world corrupt your view of the sanctity of human life.

The price of a good reputation in a pagan society is too high.

But reputation in a distant, abstract, sense is one thing; how the people who know you feel about you is another.  Supposing some neighbor, in lock-step with the spirit of the age, found out you belong to a church that holds a biblical stance on moral matters.  They might think of you as a hater.  But what if you’re the one who visited them in the hospital, and mowed their lawn while they were recovering?  What if you’re the one who had them over for bbq, and gave them a ride to work when their car was in the shop?

Though they accuse you of evil, they see your good deeds.  And this may make them open to hearing the gospel, and to the possibility that on the day of the Lord they will be among those gladly bending the knee, rather than those bending the knee in terrified conviction.  Make no mistake, doing good isn’t sharing the gospel; but it is consistent with sharing the gospel, and it may pave the way for the message of God’s love.

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Imperishable

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1 Peter, God, Gospel, Truth

The gospel message may seem small compared to the powers of this world.  American culture loves the display of grandiose wealth and extravagance by the elite figures of the entertainment industry, the wonders of technology, the allure of power.  When we look with the eyes of the world, the church (or at least the average church) may seem insignificant and out of touch, a relic of the past.

But appearance does not always equal reality.  Peter reminds Christians that their spiritual new birth is the mighty work of God, which grows from the seed of His word: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23, NIV).

This stands in start contrast to the pomp and prestige of the world: “For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’  And this is the word that was preached to you” (vv.24-25).

The splendor of the world passes away, but the word of God does not.  The glitz of Hollywood and the power of technocrats is dust, but the word of God endures.  God is eternal, and the gospel of God imparts everlasting life.

The church has a treasure the world cannot buy and cannot compete with–the gift of the word of God.

Elect Exiles

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Gospel, Identity, Jesus Christ, Kingdom of God

The book of 1 Peter is a letter, and so it quite naturally begins with a greeting.  It says who it’s from (the apostle Peter), who it’s to (the scattered churches of Asia Minor), and offers a blessing.  But summarizing it like that misses the profoundly theological statement about identity that Peter communicates even in his opening lines.

For Peter introduces himself in a way that draws attention to Jesus Christ.  He uses the nickname Jesus gave him (Peter), and identifies himself as an apostle of Christ–that is, someone who speaks not for himself, but for Christ Jesus his Lord.  Peter’s identity is found in Jesus.

Then, when he turns to his addressees, he puts their identity in theological perspective too.  They are ‘elect exiles’ or ‘chosen foreigners’, strangers in the world because they are citizens of God’s kingdom.  And this chosen identity is elaborated in a trinitarian description of salvation, that “have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood” (1 Pet. 1:2, NIV).  Their identity is formed by God’s saving work for and in them.

In a world so confused about identity, in a culture that wears a thousand masks to hide its face, Christians must be firmly rooted in their God-defined identity.  We are ‘elect exiles,’ strangers in the world, sent to proclaim the kingdom of He who has overcome the world.

The Kingdom of God

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Gospel, Kingdom of God

In Luke 9, we read about what may be called the ‘little commission,’ the sending of the disciples to preach before the death and resurrection of Christ and the Great Commission that followed.  “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Lk. 9:1-2, NIV).

The kingdom of God.  That’s one way of describing the gospel message.  The good news is that God reigns and that His kingdom is here, now, for those who come to Christ in faith.  Any who will repent and receive Christ may cross from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and life.  This is the grace and glory of the gospel.

The kingdom is not fully present yet; this world is still afflicted by demons and diseases.  But the one day God’s rule will be complete, and there will be no more sin or pain or death.  The kingdom will come into fullness when Christ returns, to call the dead to life and bring the new heavens and new earth.  Kingdom life now is a foretaste of the life to come, the blessing of peace in the midst of chaos, the hint of what life will be when all is peace and Christ is all in all.

So we pray, Maranatha: our Lord, come.

He Saw the Light

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Acts, Christ, Gospel, Paul

The story of Paul’s conversion has such tremendous power as a direct intervention of God that so suddenly turned a man from zealous persecutor to fervent missionary.  There’s nothing wishy-washy about Paul.  At first he’s convinced that Christians are a blasphemous sect that must be stamped out, and he gets authorization to go hunting them; he has a passionate drive to wipe out the Church.

Then, suddenly, he’s preaching the gospel.  There’s hardly any time in between.  Once Paul becomes convinced that Jesus really is the Christ, he unabashedly begins to proclaim this truth.  His knowledge is now in the service of the Lord, and so potent are his expositions of the truth that in one city after another the Jews seek his death (Acts 9:23-30).

What stands at the crux of this rapid transition from persecutor to preacher?  He saw the light–a light from Heaven, and heard the voice of the Lord calling him to account.  His persecution of Christians was, in fact, persecution of Christ.  Let the enemies of the Church take notice: they are enemies of the Church’s Lord, it is He they persecute, and His triumph is assured.

But Christ met Paul not only with blinding power and conviction, but with unfathomable grace.  Paul became captive to the Lord of the gospel, to his everlasting joy.

We are not given that same visible and audible encounter with the risen Lord, but the same mercy reaches out to us.  Like Paul, we too may see the light and be captured by the gospel and the Lord of the gospel…to our everlasting joy.