One Thing I Do Know

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Pete

We’ve been stretching our brains considering the incommunicable attributes of God during our mid-week study. Incommunicable — 14 letters, 6 syllables — and that’s but one of the big words we’ve added to our vocabulary.

Another is God’s incomprehensibility — God is beyond fully understanding. If you think you’ve got your arms wrapped around who God is, then you’ve got the wrong God. If you think He’s just a bigger, better, more super-sized and perfect version of you, then you’re starting at the wrong reference point. In our quest to know God deeper, I’m being reminded, again and again, how much I don’t know.

Maybe that’s why a familiar passage in John’s gospel penetrates deeply this morning. Because it affirms one thing I do know.

John doesn’t reveal his name. He’s identified initially as “a man blind from birth” (9:1), and then is renamed “the man who had formerly been blind” (9:13). How come? Sunday School 101 answer: Jesus! And boy, does he cause a stir among the religious elite of the day.

Another miracle of Jesus that they have to deal with. They first try to deny it. Was he really born blind? Yup. So then they have to discredit it. But these eyes that have never worked started to work on the Sabbath. “Work!” . . . on the Sabbath . . . this man Jesus can’t be of God.

For all their 14 letter, 6 syllable words, the religious brain trust of the Jews refused to believe. And so they call the man who had formerly been blind back to the stand to testify. And testify he does!

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

(John 9:24-25 ESV)

The man who had formerly been blind wasn’t all that interested in whether making mud on the Sabbath was a violation of the Sabbath. Didn’t care a lot about whether or not placing mud on the eyes crossed the theological t’s of the Pharisees. When it came to giving glory to God, what He was certain of was this, “Though I was blind, now I see.” Period. Full stop. Drop the mic.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we shouldn’t be studying theology or the high things of God. I wouldn’t be investing hours (and treading water in an ocean of awe) with such things as aseity, infinity, simplicity, and immutability, if I didn’t think that to know God deeply is to love God deeply. If I wasn’t convinced that the more expanded our belief about God, the greater our desire to walk in obedience with God.

But what I am saying is that of all things I’m realizing I still don’t know, one thing I do know. I too was blind, but not anymore. I was in bondage to sin but now am free. I once lived in fear of death but now to live is Christ and die is gain. I once was an enemy of God, but now I’m a son.

How come? Sunday School 101 answer: Jesus! He touched me and made me whole (thanx again Billy G.).

One thing I do know. I once was blind but now I see. And I walk in the light — though not perfectly, still very much dependently, and in need of cleansing blood constantly.

Incomprehensible.

But oh, so wonderful!

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Last Words among Last Words

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Pete

Wrapped up about 20 days in 1 and 2 Peter. Peter’s last letters to those taking it in the teeth for Jesus. Peter’s final exhortations for those in the pressure cooker of oppression, dispersion, and some confusion about the end times. Though they are stressed and tempted to waver, Peter wants to stir them up and encourage them to keep walking in the Way (2Peter 1:12-13, 3:1-2).

And as I conclude Peter’s second letter, seems to me that Peter’s last words among his last words, for those feeling like they’re in the end times of the end times, are worth chewing on.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

(2Peter 3:17-18 ESV)

If there’s anything God’s people should be focused on in seasons that feel like the end times of the end times, it’s this:

  • They should double down on what they know to be true in the Scriptures
  • They need to battle against forces that would carry them away with error
  • They must take care not to lose their footing on Christ which they have in Christ, and thus become destabilized.
  • They should increase both their grace intake, relying on Jesus as they never have before, as well as their grace output, letting Jesus live through them as He never has before.
  • They are to view the season of stress and suffering as a means to go deeper and deeper in their experiential knowledge of Jesus.

Said differently, we can know that we’re responding to the end times in a spiritually healthy way if: we’ve never been more into our Bibles; never been more aware of the world’s deception; never been more confident in the finished work of Christ; never been more aware of His imminent return; never appropriated more His grace; never wanted more to be conduits of His grace; and, if we are continually thanking God for the tough times because our walk with Jesus is as real, renewing, and reviving as it’s ever been.

Not that there’s not a bunch of other things that exiles in dispersion need to be aware of, obedient to, and engaged in. But I think Peter’s closing lines are a pretty good bottom line.

When we sense things are about to be “dissolved”, it should compel us to be the sort of people we ought to be “in lives of holiness and godliness” as we wait for and hasten the “the coming day” (3:11-12). Holding fast to what we know. Standing fast on Who we know. Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. And while that may not do much to turn around the mess we’re in, it’s exactly what God will use to carry on the mission we’re in — that of making Him known to a world that is “stored up for fire” (3:7).

Only by His grace alone. Always for His glory alone.

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The Gift of Repentance

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Pete

Would I be off-base in thinking that, in general, repentance isn’t something that most of us — believer or not — view too favorably? While some may see no reason for it at all, is it a stretch that even for those who know repentance needs to be a thing, it’s more likely grudgingly viewed as something I have to do rather than gratefully viewed as something I get to do? That too often it’s more like being forced to bow the knee rather than the freedom to run to the cross? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Two words in my 2 Peter reading this morning have me thinking about repentance. A unique translation to the ESV, not found in the other versions. But a translation that has me in awe and adoration for the gift of repentance.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

(2Peter 3:9 ESV)

Reach repentance. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. The other translations render it “come to repentance.” Same idea, but isn’t there a nuance presented by the ESV? I think “come to” as in “come to my senses.” Truth in that. After all that’s the wording used for the prodigal son (Lk. 15:17). But reaching repentance sounds a little less like me finally being broken and dealing with the undeniable reality of my sin, and little more like actualizing the gift provided of being able to align my mind with God’s and appropriate the remedy for my rebellion. Does that make sense?

I think repentance can be so hard because pride continues to so prevail. If nothing else, when the Spirit does daily battle with the flesh (Gal. 5:17) the way of the kingdom is at war with the way of the ego. The Seal of God in our lives, guaranteeing what is to come (Eph. 1:13b-14), is guarding the throne of our lives, to be occupied by Jesus only, against the pull of our lives to exalt self and re-take the throne. It’s our pride which justifies our temptations. It’s our pride which compares ourselves to others around us who are “less holy” so that we can view ourselves more highly than we ought. It’s our pride that so often needs to be battled, turned back, and forced to its knees before we’ll concede we need to repent. Thank God, for the battle.

But as the mind of Christ grows in us, shouldn’t our awareness of the ever-present assault by the flesh also increase? As we abide in His presence more and more, our imperfections are exposed more and more. As we abide in God’s living word, the sword which pierces and divides soul and spirit discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12), it reveals the lingering sin which continues to rear its ugly head in our lives. But we know how to deal with the sin. We get to repent. The Spirit of Christ imparting the mind of Christ compelling us to run to the cross of Christ confessing our transgression before Christ and desire to turn again and embrace the way of Christ for the glory of Christ. That’s reaching repentance. Or, as Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) puts it, passing on to reformation.

Repentance is a gift. The gift that leads, again and again and as often as necessary, to the finished work of Christ. The gift that unlocks the door of forgiveness and restoration when we’re once more tripped up by transgression. The key that unlocks the fountain of the blood of Christ, sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Repentance is a gift, because God’s word says it’s a gift.

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself — that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

(Romans 2:2-4 ESV)

In my flesh, I have to repent. In the Spirit, praise God, I get to repent.

For my good. By His grace. All to God’s glory.

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Ain’t Necessarily a Duck

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Pete

It has got to be one of the scariest verses in all of Scripture. Thus, one that is worth wrestling with and one that needs to be cataloged within the filter of holy discernment. Because, according to the Spirit, despite the fact that it might look like a duck, swim like a duck, and quack like a duck, it ain’t necessarily a duck.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

(2Peter 2:20-22 ESV)

Saved or not saved? That is the question.

Too much context within Scripture for me not to hook my anchor on the solid rock that once a person is redeemed and regenerated they are forever a child of God and secure in their salvation. I believe that those God begins a good work in, He will complete that work in (Php. 1:6). I believe that those the Father gives to the Son the Son will never cast out, nor should the Son lose anything of all that has been given Him. I believe that the will of the Father is that whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life, and the Son will raise each one up on the last day (Jn. 6:37-40).

So, if that’s the truth to which my anchor’s fixed, how do I make sense of those who have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet are again entangled in them and overcome?

We know that there are many religions which produce “good people.” Many tenets, beliefs, and isms that provoke outward reform and moral behavior. To think that someone could know about Jesus, could be enticed by Jesus, and even try and live like Jesus without actually believing in Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of all creation, perhaps isn’t that big a stretch. That they could be drawn to Sermon on the Mount types of teaching without confessing and repenting of their sinful hearts before the Servant on the cross is a possibility. And so, in that sense, men and women could in fact be outwardly righteous before others, could have a form of godliness, yet be destitute of the grace of God in their lives. They may have heard enough to escape, but not be prepared to believe enough to be rescued.

So when they are again entangled in the defilements of the world it’s not that they have been un-saved or dis-regenerated, but it’s an indication that they had never been born again. They had never stopped being a dog so it’s natural they’d return to their own vomit. Were never converted from being a sow and so, after washing themselves, returned eventually to what they do naturally, wallow in the mire.

How could they have heard enough to change their lives but not to redeem their souls? Through the false teachers among them (2Pet. 2:1). Enough gospel to clean up, but not enough to fess up. Enough gospel to tithe to the preacher, not enough gospel to die to the Savior. “Waterless springs” appealing to parched souls, “enticing by sensual passions of the flesh,” resulting in moral people never converted by God’s power (2Pet. 2:17-19).

Thus, a scary verse not because my salvation could be short-lived, but because another’s might be superficial. And while I’m not responsible, nor able to determine whether someone is really saved, in caring for others who call themselves a brother or sister, I can be discerning. At least aware that one who seems again entangled in the defilements of the world may not need a call to stop backsliding but might actually need an introduction to the One in whom they need to start believing. That they might benefit more from hearing again the gospel than from being given a pass because “none of us are perfect.”

Hmm. Something to chew on.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Idols and Stumbling Blocks

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Pete

One of the “advantages” of reading through the Old Testament prophets, I find, is the language the Spirit gives through them for identifying and describing sin. If you want to expand your vocabulary regarding transgression against God, just hang out with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Not that I enjoy meandering in the muck of iniquity, but honestly it’s kind of helpful to have some context for recognizing it when you see it. Can’t repent of what you don’t recognize.

Case in point? A thrice repeated characterization of a particular type of sin from Ezekiel 14 this morning.

Background? Certain elders of the Israel have come to Ezekiel wanting him to bring them a word from the Lord. Men of standing. I’m thinking reputable men. Perhaps self-professed holy men. But, as quickly becomes apparent, severely compromised men.

“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let Myself be consulted by them?”

(Ezekiel 14:3 ESV)

Though they present themselves as devout and religious, though they approach Ezekiel with a façade of apparent sincerity and seeking, these leaders among the peoples had taken idols into their hearts and had put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. (To emphasize the point, the LORD will repeat His assessment of their condition two more times in verses 4 and 7.)

Before any graven image had been set on the mantel in their home, it had already found residence within their thoughts and desires. Before starting to divert their energies towards that physical carving overlaid with silver and gold, they had already placed pursuing the creation above the Creator at the top of their spiritual priorities list. The idols were at first thoughts, and intents, and values, and desires in their inner being before they ever manifested themselves as physical stumbling blocks set before their eyes.

Beware of idols taken into the heart. That’s what I’m picking up this morning.

Taken into the heart. Literally, allowed to ascend, caused to go up. The battle against the material idol in our house begins with what we entertain in our hearts. It’s there that we can grow weary of seeking first the things of the kingdom and thus opt to divert first energies to the things of the world. Before material possessions ever fill our spaces, setting fleshing desires above our God overtakes our affections.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from Me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult Me through him, I the LORD will answer him Myself.”

(Ezekiel 14:6-7 EV)

To allow idols to ascend within the seat of our being is to separate ourselves from the One who demands the throne of our lives alone. When the external evidence of stumbling blocks appear, which distract us from following in the Spirit, it’s but a tangible indicator of a battle which has already been ceded internally to follow after the flesh. Guard your heart.

O, that Christ would so fill my heart there is no room for anything else. That my face would be so fixed on things above that I would not trip over things below.

Only through the cross. Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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Can’t Wait to Get to the End

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Pete

Just finished reading Job 3. Job’s delivered up the first volley in what will be a long back-and-forth match — him against his so-called comforters. A match which for millennia has been replayed over and over as many who have shared to some degree with Job’s experience try to make sense of their own experience. And Job’s opening serve is anything but an ace. Rather, it’s a “why?”

“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? . . . Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, . . . Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?”

(Job 3:11, 20, 23 ESV)

Everything Job has worked for, everything he has cherished, everything for which he has given thanks to God, everything which he consistently consecrated to God (1:5), it’s all gone. Health, wealth, and family — “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken way” (1:20b). So, wonders aloud the man covered “with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (2:7), Why?

Why did God give if God knew it would be taken away? Why so much suffering and sorrow when God is wholly sovereign? Why, Job cries, did God let me even start the race if He knew the train wreck it would lead to? Why is light given? Why, if it’s only to be enveloped in such darkness?

And the thing about reading Job for the umpteenth time is that you can’t help but process these opening questions in light of the closing chapters. You know how the story ends and so you want to jump in at the beginning and get in on the action, “Job, I know why!” Sort of . . .

“Why is light given?” What hits me this morning is the Ecclesiastes nature of the question.

Job’s focus is being born into natural light, the light we find here on earth. The same context in which the ancient Preacher of Ecclesiastes concluded that everything that is done “under the sun” is but “vanity and a striving after wind” (Eccl. 1:14). If that’s the only light there is to see, then in the end — regardless of when the end comes or how well life goes until the end — it’s all meaningless.

And while there’s a long back-and-forth debate to come between Job and his friends, his opening disregard for the value of seeing the light of life will give way to an experience and understanding of encountering the Light of eternity. His eyes eventually redirected from the flickering light given “under the sun” to the unapproachable light emitted from the throne of his Creator.

Misery and bitterness of soul, meandering down unmapped roads and boxed in by uncontrollable circumstances, all giving way eventually to beholding the light of the glory of God. An encounter of the divine kind emerging from the despair of his present season of suffering under the sun.

There’s a long way to go in Job before the questions get answered. But the answers won’t come in nice tidy explanations of the why’s of his suffering and sorrow. Instead, the answer will be found in a Who. Resolved through revelation. Light here and now reset in the context of light there and then.

The answer’s coming. Can’t wait to get to the end.

By His grace. For His glory.

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A Faith of Equal Standing

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Pete

Went back and had a look at my journal. Putting down some thoughts on 2Peter 1 this morning will be the fifth year in a row that I’ve paused to chew on these opening verses in 2Peter. Says something when considering the “competition” they are up against in my reading plan.

Lots to noodle on concerning Job, a man who by God’s own assertion was a man unlike any other man on earth, “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). A man who loses everything for no other reason than the destroyer wants to prove a point about fickle faithfulness (1:9-11). A man who amidst the ashes of his earthly possessions and before the graves of his ten children falls to the ground and worships, blessing the name of the LORD, not sinning nor charging God with any wrong (1:20-22). Chew on that.

Or what about the opening chapters of Ezekiel? Talk about your vision of the glory of God (Ezek. 1:26-28). Though for different reasons than Job, he too ends up on his face before the holy One of heaven (1:28b). What’s more, he not only sees the glory, he is filled with the glory as the Spirit repeated lifts him up and whisks him around (2:2, 2:12, 2:14, 2:4). Talk about your close encounter of the divine kind. More than enough there to ignite the imagination and max out the awe-o-meter.

But it’s the opening verses of Peter’s second letter that cause me to bless the Lord, to behold the glory, and to go facedown, as it were, before my God.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

(2Peter 1:1-2 ESV)

A faith of equal standing. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

Who’s writing this letter? Peter. Peter, one of the twelve. Peter, the leader among the twelve. Peter, apostle to the Jews. Peter the rock. Peter, upon whose confession Jesus would build His church. The same Peter of Pentecost. Peter of great faith. Peter of great impacting faith. And if I’m reading this letter as written if not to me at least for me, then I have a faith of equal standing with Peter. Really?!? Yeah, really!

‘Cause it’s not about Peter — neither him nor me. Not because of works — either his or mine. Not of some meritorious character — whether of the impetuous Peter who wrote this letter or the imperfect Peter who’s reading it. It’s a faith of equal standing because it’s a faith of perfect standing. And that because it’s a faith founded on the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The glory has descended. God has made Himself known. Time to go facedown. Blessed be the name of the LORD!

A faith of equal standing because I’m standing on the foundation of the finished work of the cross, clothed in the righteousness of the Christ. It’s not about what I’ve done, but about knowing in whom I have believed (2Tim. 1:12). Not about what I am capable of, in fact, it’s despite that. Instead, it’s all about what He has accomplished once for all, and what He has already credited to the accounts of those who believe.

A faith of equal standing. A faith founded on the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. A faith worth supplementing (2Pet. 1:5-7). A faith which, if added to according to His command and by His enabling, will confirm our calling and election and keep us from ever falling (1:10). A faith which will richly provide for us an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1:11).

A faith worth noodling on. A faith worth building upon. A faith worth counting on.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Exhortation. Identification. Affirmation.

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Pete

A month ago I wrapped up Isaiah and give it my vote for consideration as a prophetic book that the church would do well to study in this season (you can check that post out here). A month later I’m wrapping up 1 Peter, and kind of feeling the same way about it — it gets my vote for the practical book we might take to heart during times that are hard. If Isaiah is a call for God’s wayward people to let times of trouble lead them to repent and return to their God, then 1 Peter is a primer for God’s faithful people on how to endure through those purifying times of trouble.

Stirred this morning by Peter’s closing exhortations to these “elect exiles of the Dispersion” (1:1).

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(1Peter 5:8-11 ESV)

Exhortation. Identification. Affirmation.

Exhortation. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Resist the devil. Think carefully. Think clearly. Recognize the enemy. Be calm, collected, and circumspect. Give strict attention to what is true. Remember the ultimate fight isn’t against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). The devil is a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. How does a lion do that? He culls individuals from the herd. Peter has spent much of his letter encouraging believers on how to remain a herd. So, resist his lies. Resist his dividing schemes. Resist trying to go it alone.

Identification. The God of all grace has called you. The God of ALL grace. The infinite God, God without limits, is in Himself grace without limits. Not only grace sufficient to save you from past sins, but grace also sufficient to sustain you in your present suffering. With unlimited grace left over to secure you in your future setting — His eternal glory. Supplying grace to stand firm in a increasingly secular, pagan world. Ready to impart grace as we interface with a hostile word. Abundant grace available as outside pressures cause inside, family tensions. Just like our brotherhood throughout the world, we’re gonna suffer — though relative to eternity, for just “a little while” — but the grace available from the God of all grace is sufficient to carry us through all our difficulties.

Affirmation. Ours is to be sober-minded. Ours is to be watchful. Ours is to resist. Knowing that God will be the One who restores, confirms, strengthens, and establishes. Faithfulness in seasons of suffering will be used of God to advance His sanctifying work within us. Correct thinking about the chaotic world around us will be used of God to stabilize a firm resolve to pursue the coming world beyond us. As we lean into another day that will likely continue to sap our strength, the indwelling Spirit of God builds up our walk-by-faith muscle which ultimately renews our strength. And by resisting the enemy’s whispers to abandon ship, our Father patiently, lovingly works in us together to firmly plant our feet on the Rock of our salvation, His Son.

Rather than just being battered by the storm, we can actually get better in the storm.

Not in our own strength, but by the grace of the God of all grace.

Not that we would boast in how well we endured. But that He might receive all the glory for His faithfulness and power.

Amen?

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Do We Need to Fight?

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Pete

It was a quick conversation. A passing comment / counter-comment chat in the restroom quickly conducted between washing and drying our hands. Used to be those were light chats about the weather or the local sports team. Now, seems every moment, even those side conversations, are preoccupied with the season we’re in, the signs of the times that are so apparent, and what we need to be doing when Jesus comes. And this brother said something to the effect, “We need to fight.”

Really? Is that what we need to do in the end times? Fight?

While I am tempted to ask that question with an air of incredulity, I’m hearing it so often from so many these days that I honestly need to consider I may be missing something. Is the right response to an increasing age of antichrist beliefs and behaviors to fight those who, dead in trespass and sin, are walking in the way of a world in rebellion so that we can reverse those beliefs and behaviors? Or, are we called to double down in being light amidst darkness? Or, is it both? Don’t know.

I recall that John talks about the spirit of antichrist in his letters. Had a quick look. Seems his exhortations are more to do with making sure we are abiding. “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father” (1Jn. 2:18-24). That in the last days we need to remember that we have overcome the world, “for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” and double down on loving one another (1Jn. 4:3-7). That in the ends times we need to be extra diligent to “watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2Jn. 1:7-8). And we do that not by fighting back against the world but standing fast with the whole armor of God, particularly the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (2Jn. 1:9, cf. Eph. 6:17).

That’s all in line with what’s hit me from my reading in 1Peter this morning.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

(1Peter 5:5b-7 ESV)

Peter’s writing to believers who feel like they’re in the end times (1Pet. 4:7). That’s why, I think, Peter refers often to Christ’s second coming in the letter (1:7, 1:11, 1:13, 4:5, 4:13, 5:2, 5:4). And you read the letter and you don’t sense Peter thinks they should double down on fighting back against the world, but on loving, caring, and serving one another. The problem, I think, in adopting a fight attitude, is you end up not just fighting the world, but everyone else that doesn’t see things they way you do.

Not saying we all need to see things the same way. Christian unity is not uniformity nor is it unanimity. But, seems to me, it is a transcendent commitment to a transcendent community based on a transcendent calling for a transcendent cause — the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And, while I’m not bright enough to know for sure how to navigate differing views and divided opinions within the church, I do wonder if fighting the system needs to be our focus. Or, if it starts with clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. If the tensions we’re feeling, as the pressure of antichrist seems to be more prominent, shouldn’t find their release casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you rather than by turning on one another.

Do we need to fight? I don’t know, maybe. But I do know we need to stand fast. And everything I’m picking up from what Peter seems to be laying down is that it is best done together, as we abide in Christ, His word abides in us, and we love one another.

As we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. As we cast all of fears on Him. As we rest in His promised care for us.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Doing What’s Right

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Pete

Would it be accurate to say that our natural tendency when doing what’s right is that we want what we’re doing to be deemed as right? That it’s hard to stand for what is true when the world around you views the truth as old-fashioned or irrelevant? That taking the high road can often be unsatisfying when it isn’t culturally accepted that there even is a high road, but that any road, as long as it’s your road, is a good road? I’m thinkin’ . . .

No matter how much we might want to embrace a reality, or try to legislate a reality into being, that the people of God should be “a moral majority”, if these past few years have revealed anything it’s that those who hold fast to the way of Christ are actually more like “a prophetic minority.” And I’m reminded in my 1Peter reading this morning, that’s kind of the way it’s going to be if you’re going to follow Jesus.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. . . . Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

(1Peter 4:12-14, 16 ESV)

Don’t be surprised if you end up being on the wrong side of history. Don’t think it strange that the world will treat you as they treated your Savior.

But bear the name of Christ. Walk in the way of Christ. Even if it’s not the popular way. Even if it increasingly becomes the persecuted way.

Do so, not because it’s seen as right in the eyes of the world, but because it is right in the sight of God. Stand for transcendent truth in a culture that increasingly embraces it’s own truth. It won’t make us popular. But would we dare to believe it will be used of the Spirit to glorify God?

Therefore, keep on keepin’ on. Hold fast to what is true. Continue to follow Jesus in the way of the cross. Be ready to give an answer with loving compassion, respect, and patience. Do what’s right even if it isn’t seen as right. That we might rejoice when His glory is revealed.

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

(1Peter 4:19 ESV)

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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