Here's what's been happening this last week (I know, what a boring opening line). I promise this post won't put you to sleep.
1. Josh's family visiting. My family—Dad, Dan and Jessi with Olivia and Zeeke, Andrew and Nate—came late Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We had a good time seeing the Dells and Devil's Lake State Park. Jamie cooked an amazing meal (homemade mac 'n' cheese, white chicken chili, corn, Josh's favorite broccoli-olive salad, a pumpkin roll, and dump cake with ice cream)! And we watched Ohio State beat Michigan...go Bucks!
2. Meeting some Mormons. Jamie and I met with two Mormon girls our age last week for a second time. We had the chance to share with them about salvation through faith alone. They are coming to our house tomorrow night for dinner, and expressed an interest in learning about John Wesley/Wesleyan theology. Pray for them and us.
3. Preparing to paint. The painter, whose wife just got saved, is busy now but will work on our entire basement soon. His name is Rick, and he's seen the need for updating the church building and wants to help. He doesn't understand why his wife has accepted Christ, though he's not completely opposed to the gospel. We all watched "The DaVinci Code" last night. Pray for us as we try to work through misconceptions about the movie with them. Praise God we will have the basement of the church painted for free!
4. Church health surveys. Our church will be taking church health surveys put out by New Church Specialities soon. We will rate ourselves on eight different areas described in Christian A. Schwarz's book Natural Church Development. I recommend the book to any pastor wanting to improve the overall health of the church. This will be one of the first steps involved in getting to be a healthier church.
5. Going home. We get to see Jamie's family this week as we go to Warsaw late Wednesday. We'll be there from then until early Saturday morning. Hopefully we'll get to see some Janofski's from Marion too (Craig and Renee? Ken and Tina?). Let us know if you can get together.
Hope you all have a great turkey day!
Monday, November 20
Sunday Sermon: Responding to Suffering, Part 2
As promised, here is part two of the sermon from 1 Peter. Stephen Mowat, I used you as an illustration in preparation, but forgot to mention it when I preached. So you get to read what I almost said.
Introduction: Review From Last Week
Last week we looked at 1 Peter 4 and talked about persecution and our response to it. Peter tells us that we are to expect suffering—it should not come as a surprise. If we aren’t being persecuted, then we should be surprised.
Then Peter tells us that we should rejoice in our suffering. There’s no point in getting down and out about it…we ought to rejoice, and for two reasons. First, because if we suffer now for a little while, we will be exceedingly joyful when Christ returns. And second, we are blessed right now as the Spirit of God rests on us. God has sent His Holy Spirit to us so we won’t have to walk the Christian walk alone.
This week we’re going to look at the other two responses. But before we do that, we need to remember why Peter was writing. Like we said last week, Peter was writing to Christians in Rome right after it burned to the ground. Nero blamed them for starting the fire and began killing Christians. To be a Christian meant being hated, insulted, and killed. Whether it was being lit on fire or thrown into the arena with a gladiator or torn to bits by wild animals, you were most certainly dead. So Peter writes to these people to give them a proper perspective on suffering and their response to it.
If it were me, I would be tempted to renounce Christ and say forget it. And I’m sure that was what was going on in many of their minds as well. That’s why Peter’s letter is so important. So, let’s look at what he has to say.
Again, turn to 1 Peter 4:12-19. It says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”
Evaluate Its Cause
So our third response is found in verses 15 and 16. Peter says you shouldn’t suffer for reasons other than being a Christian—for bearing the name of Christ. So, our third response is to evaluate the cause of our suffering. When we’re suffering, we ought to take a look at why. And this response, I believe is the most key and one we should take time to understand. Lots of people think they are being persecuted for Christ, when really they’re not. These are the same types of people who write letters to the editor trying to persuade people to vote “yes” for the marriage amendment. They’re anti-abortion, so they stand in front of abortion clinics and picket. Or they’re anti-Democrat—because all Democrats are liberal and all Republicans are conservative Christians—so they only vote Republican and judge others who don’t. Or, they go witnessing and tell someone, “You’re going to hell if you don’t repent right NOW!” That person cusses them out and they think they’re being persecuted for Christ’s sake. As we’ll see these people are a little off the mark, a little misguided.
Verse 15 says, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” There are four evils mentioned that are typical of a sinful lifestyle and they are used to illustrate the character of unacceptable suffering. They're very obvious, at least the first three. Don't suffer as a murderer. I mean, if you murder somebody and you suffer and they put you in prison or take your life, don't moan and complain. You should be ashamed. Same thing with being a thief, someone who steals in stealth and gets caught. You should be ashamed. Or an evildoer. The word "evildoer" covers all the crimes not mentioned in the first two words. Those first two are pretty broad...murder and thievery. And then summing up all the rest, don't suffer as an evil doer, all other forms of wickedness and sin. If you do, you should be ashamed.
Then he adds one other very interesting word, as he says, "a troublesome meddler." You say, "Well how in the world did you get a troublesome meddler in there with a murderer, a thief and an evildoer?" Because this is a very interesting word. By the way, it's only used here in the whole New Testament, so it is harder to define it. Some say it means a busybody, someone interfering in the affairs of others. It could also mean one who is unfaithful with goods committed to him—a bad steward. Or it could mean one who has his eyes on others’ possessions, a coveter. The word comes from two different words: “episkopos,” which is the word for overseer; and “allotrios,” which means stranger. And if you combine the two words together it means someone who looks over or someone who intrudes into things that belong to someone else. Someone that looks over or intrudes into things that belong to someone else. It is a sort of "mind your own business" word.
The question is, why does Peter say this word along with a murderer, thief and evildoer? This type of sin doesn’t seem to fit in well; it’s not as extreme as killing a guy. The reason he includes meddler is because Christians weren’t supposed to act like that. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Paul says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” You are to attend to your own business and to work with your own hands, do your own trade, stay out of other matters.
Whether that’s in the areas I spoke of above—the social issues, or issues within the church. We tend to meddle in each others’ business in the church too. We always want to know about every little detail, and we gossip about other people. Or we complain about other people. I have a pastor buddy who I graduated college with. He pastors a small church in Indiana, and he says people from his congregation will drive by his house frequently during the week. And his house is on a road that’s out of the way. So he knows they are driving by just to “check up” on him. They are meddling. Peter lists this in the same breath as murderers and thieves. It’s a serious sin! We’d like to think that just because there’s no criminal penalty for gossiping that it’s okay for us to do it. And we’d like to think that we are called to transform the government. But it’s not, and we’re not.
In his book, The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson explains what it means to be subversive, a big word for the opposite of meddling. He says that by being subversive, we take our message of Christ crucified and resurrected seriously, and we know that the gospel is offensive. If we are to have long-term effectiveness, the route to take is not to argue with the government and push our agenda on society. Rather, it is to, as Paul said, live quietly so you will win the respect of outsiders.
Being subversive means we assume three things to be true:
1. The status quo is wrong and must be overthrown. It is so deeply wrong that repair work will be futile. The world is, like a car, totaled.
2. There is another world that is livable. It exists, though it is not visible…it is the kingdom of God. The subversive Christian then operates out of the conviction that the kingdom of God is real.
3. The usual means by which one kingdom is overthrown and another brought to power won’t work. You can’t depose a dictator, change the constitution, elect a bunch of Republicans, etc. We must live as subversive Christians.
Jesus was subversive. He spoke in parables, which were hard to understand. Now with Pharisees and chief priests, he was up front and to the point. But with those seeking to know the truth, he spoke in parables. He healed people and told them not to tell others. He was not a meddler, and did not seek to change the government as some wanted him to. So should we live. Back to our passage, Peter says we should not suffer for being obnoxious, nosy and messing with the government. If we evaluate why we’re suffering and find it is because we are going on TV bashing our government or abortion or homosexuality or anything else, we are not being persecuted as a Christian. We are then being given our just punishment. If we take it upon ourselves to force our Christian thinking upon our culture, we've stepped beyond the boundaries.
Some of you are thinking that I’m saying we should hide our Christianity, never witness to others, etc. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying there is a way to go about it that we’re missing. Yes, share your faith regularly. Do not compromise the gospel. Don’t water it down. Don’t be afraid of being rejected. Live as Christ calls us to live, righteous and holy lives. Just don’t throw yourself into the political scene, or act like a bigot, or judge non-Christians for not behaving like a Christian does. If you do, you deserve your suffering and should be ashamed. But if you suffer for bearing the name of Christ, you should not be ashamed.
Peter goes on to say in verse 16, “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” We must evaluate if we are suffering as a Christian. The word “Christian” was originally a derogatory term given to followers of Christ by non-Christians. Just as those who worshiped the Emperor Caesar Augustus were called “Augustinians,” so worshipers of Christ were called Christians. What Peter is saying is almost ironic. The world considered murderers, thieves, evildoers and meddlers to all be horrible people. It also considered Christians to be horrible people. So, you can be despised by the world, but it better be for the right reason. You had better be a subversive Christian.
Entrust Yourself to God
So, we should evaluate why we’re suffering. And now one final point. In verse 19 it says, “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Entrust yourself to God: our fourth response to suffering. Perhaps this is the hardest, even harder than rejoicing. God, after all, is the One who is allowing us to endure this trial. If he would just act on our behalf and save us from whatever it is, life would be better. But instead He asks us to go to Him. To entrust yourself to God means to give Him yourself, with the thought that God will take you and sustain you. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit,” using the same word as we see here.
God is our faithful Creator. As our Creator, we know that God created all things, and that He permits and enables the events of life. Without God, we would not exist. Theologian G.K. Chesterton once said, “He who has seen the whole world hanging on a hair of the mercy of God has seen the truth.” It is precisely for this reason that Peter calls him Creator—by the way this is the only time this word is used in the NT. Entrust yourself to the one who both created you in his image, and who sustains your every breath. He is faithful to you, so be faithful to him and commit your life to Him.
John MacArthur tells of how a man named Jeffrey Bull was held for three years and two months by the Chinese communists. Part of the time he was held in solitary confinement, he was half starved, threatened, badgered, subjected to the infernal techniques of brain washing. He was desperately holding on to some power of objectivity in his brain by making at one time a special study of the six different types of mosquitoes in his cell just to keep his sanity.
In the midst of all of this he composed a long poem and I will read part of it to you. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself locked in a room just small enough to sit down in, dimly lit, alone. This was his prayer in the midst of horrible suffering:
Let not Thy face grow dim, dear God, nor sense of Thee depart.
Let not the memory of Thy Word burn low within my heart.
Let not my spirit, Lord, grow numb through loneliness or fears.
Let not my heart to doubt succumb and keep my eyes from tears.
Let not the distance come between as months and years increase.
Let not the darkness close me in, let me not lose Thy peace.
Let not the pressure of the foe crush out my love for Thee.
Let not the tiredness and the woe eclipse Thy victory.
For Thy joy is my joy and my hope, Thy day and Thy kingdom gracious God shall never pass away.
Introduction: Review From Last Week
Last week we looked at 1 Peter 4 and talked about persecution and our response to it. Peter tells us that we are to expect suffering—it should not come as a surprise. If we aren’t being persecuted, then we should be surprised.
Then Peter tells us that we should rejoice in our suffering. There’s no point in getting down and out about it…we ought to rejoice, and for two reasons. First, because if we suffer now for a little while, we will be exceedingly joyful when Christ returns. And second, we are blessed right now as the Spirit of God rests on us. God has sent His Holy Spirit to us so we won’t have to walk the Christian walk alone.
This week we’re going to look at the other two responses. But before we do that, we need to remember why Peter was writing. Like we said last week, Peter was writing to Christians in Rome right after it burned to the ground. Nero blamed them for starting the fire and began killing Christians. To be a Christian meant being hated, insulted, and killed. Whether it was being lit on fire or thrown into the arena with a gladiator or torn to bits by wild animals, you were most certainly dead. So Peter writes to these people to give them a proper perspective on suffering and their response to it.
If it were me, I would be tempted to renounce Christ and say forget it. And I’m sure that was what was going on in many of their minds as well. That’s why Peter’s letter is so important. So, let’s look at what he has to say.
Again, turn to 1 Peter 4:12-19. It says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”
Evaluate Its Cause
So our third response is found in verses 15 and 16. Peter says you shouldn’t suffer for reasons other than being a Christian—for bearing the name of Christ. So, our third response is to evaluate the cause of our suffering. When we’re suffering, we ought to take a look at why. And this response, I believe is the most key and one we should take time to understand. Lots of people think they are being persecuted for Christ, when really they’re not. These are the same types of people who write letters to the editor trying to persuade people to vote “yes” for the marriage amendment. They’re anti-abortion, so they stand in front of abortion clinics and picket. Or they’re anti-Democrat—because all Democrats are liberal and all Republicans are conservative Christians—so they only vote Republican and judge others who don’t. Or, they go witnessing and tell someone, “You’re going to hell if you don’t repent right NOW!” That person cusses them out and they think they’re being persecuted for Christ’s sake. As we’ll see these people are a little off the mark, a little misguided.
Verse 15 says, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” There are four evils mentioned that are typical of a sinful lifestyle and they are used to illustrate the character of unacceptable suffering. They're very obvious, at least the first three. Don't suffer as a murderer. I mean, if you murder somebody and you suffer and they put you in prison or take your life, don't moan and complain. You should be ashamed. Same thing with being a thief, someone who steals in stealth and gets caught. You should be ashamed. Or an evildoer. The word "evildoer" covers all the crimes not mentioned in the first two words. Those first two are pretty broad...murder and thievery. And then summing up all the rest, don't suffer as an evil doer, all other forms of wickedness and sin. If you do, you should be ashamed.
Then he adds one other very interesting word, as he says, "a troublesome meddler." You say, "Well how in the world did you get a troublesome meddler in there with a murderer, a thief and an evildoer?" Because this is a very interesting word. By the way, it's only used here in the whole New Testament, so it is harder to define it. Some say it means a busybody, someone interfering in the affairs of others. It could also mean one who is unfaithful with goods committed to him—a bad steward. Or it could mean one who has his eyes on others’ possessions, a coveter. The word comes from two different words: “episkopos,” which is the word for overseer; and “allotrios,” which means stranger. And if you combine the two words together it means someone who looks over or someone who intrudes into things that belong to someone else. Someone that looks over or intrudes into things that belong to someone else. It is a sort of "mind your own business" word.
The question is, why does Peter say this word along with a murderer, thief and evildoer? This type of sin doesn’t seem to fit in well; it’s not as extreme as killing a guy. The reason he includes meddler is because Christians weren’t supposed to act like that. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Paul says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” You are to attend to your own business and to work with your own hands, do your own trade, stay out of other matters.
Whether that’s in the areas I spoke of above—the social issues, or issues within the church. We tend to meddle in each others’ business in the church too. We always want to know about every little detail, and we gossip about other people. Or we complain about other people. I have a pastor buddy who I graduated college with. He pastors a small church in Indiana, and he says people from his congregation will drive by his house frequently during the week. And his house is on a road that’s out of the way. So he knows they are driving by just to “check up” on him. They are meddling. Peter lists this in the same breath as murderers and thieves. It’s a serious sin! We’d like to think that just because there’s no criminal penalty for gossiping that it’s okay for us to do it. And we’d like to think that we are called to transform the government. But it’s not, and we’re not.
In his book, The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson explains what it means to be subversive, a big word for the opposite of meddling. He says that by being subversive, we take our message of Christ crucified and resurrected seriously, and we know that the gospel is offensive. If we are to have long-term effectiveness, the route to take is not to argue with the government and push our agenda on society. Rather, it is to, as Paul said, live quietly so you will win the respect of outsiders.
Being subversive means we assume three things to be true:
1. The status quo is wrong and must be overthrown. It is so deeply wrong that repair work will be futile. The world is, like a car, totaled.
2. There is another world that is livable. It exists, though it is not visible…it is the kingdom of God. The subversive Christian then operates out of the conviction that the kingdom of God is real.
3. The usual means by which one kingdom is overthrown and another brought to power won’t work. You can’t depose a dictator, change the constitution, elect a bunch of Republicans, etc. We must live as subversive Christians.
Jesus was subversive. He spoke in parables, which were hard to understand. Now with Pharisees and chief priests, he was up front and to the point. But with those seeking to know the truth, he spoke in parables. He healed people and told them not to tell others. He was not a meddler, and did not seek to change the government as some wanted him to. So should we live. Back to our passage, Peter says we should not suffer for being obnoxious, nosy and messing with the government. If we evaluate why we’re suffering and find it is because we are going on TV bashing our government or abortion or homosexuality or anything else, we are not being persecuted as a Christian. We are then being given our just punishment. If we take it upon ourselves to force our Christian thinking upon our culture, we've stepped beyond the boundaries.
Some of you are thinking that I’m saying we should hide our Christianity, never witness to others, etc. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying there is a way to go about it that we’re missing. Yes, share your faith regularly. Do not compromise the gospel. Don’t water it down. Don’t be afraid of being rejected. Live as Christ calls us to live, righteous and holy lives. Just don’t throw yourself into the political scene, or act like a bigot, or judge non-Christians for not behaving like a Christian does. If you do, you deserve your suffering and should be ashamed. But if you suffer for bearing the name of Christ, you should not be ashamed.
Peter goes on to say in verse 16, “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” We must evaluate if we are suffering as a Christian. The word “Christian” was originally a derogatory term given to followers of Christ by non-Christians. Just as those who worshiped the Emperor Caesar Augustus were called “Augustinians,” so worshipers of Christ were called Christians. What Peter is saying is almost ironic. The world considered murderers, thieves, evildoers and meddlers to all be horrible people. It also considered Christians to be horrible people. So, you can be despised by the world, but it better be for the right reason. You had better be a subversive Christian.
Entrust Yourself to God
So, we should evaluate why we’re suffering. And now one final point. In verse 19 it says, “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Entrust yourself to God: our fourth response to suffering. Perhaps this is the hardest, even harder than rejoicing. God, after all, is the One who is allowing us to endure this trial. If he would just act on our behalf and save us from whatever it is, life would be better. But instead He asks us to go to Him. To entrust yourself to God means to give Him yourself, with the thought that God will take you and sustain you. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit,” using the same word as we see here.
God is our faithful Creator. As our Creator, we know that God created all things, and that He permits and enables the events of life. Without God, we would not exist. Theologian G.K. Chesterton once said, “He who has seen the whole world hanging on a hair of the mercy of God has seen the truth.” It is precisely for this reason that Peter calls him Creator—by the way this is the only time this word is used in the NT. Entrust yourself to the one who both created you in his image, and who sustains your every breath. He is faithful to you, so be faithful to him and commit your life to Him.
John MacArthur tells of how a man named Jeffrey Bull was held for three years and two months by the Chinese communists. Part of the time he was held in solitary confinement, he was half starved, threatened, badgered, subjected to the infernal techniques of brain washing. He was desperately holding on to some power of objectivity in his brain by making at one time a special study of the six different types of mosquitoes in his cell just to keep his sanity.
In the midst of all of this he composed a long poem and I will read part of it to you. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself locked in a room just small enough to sit down in, dimly lit, alone. This was his prayer in the midst of horrible suffering:
Let not Thy face grow dim, dear God, nor sense of Thee depart.
Let not the memory of Thy Word burn low within my heart.
Let not my spirit, Lord, grow numb through loneliness or fears.
Let not my heart to doubt succumb and keep my eyes from tears.
Let not the distance come between as months and years increase.
Let not the darkness close me in, let me not lose Thy peace.
Let not the pressure of the foe crush out my love for Thee.
Let not the tiredness and the woe eclipse Thy victory.
For Thy joy is my joy and my hope, Thy day and Thy kingdom gracious God shall never pass away.
Thursday, November 16
Sand Lake Wesleyan Church
Yesterday Jamie and I had a chance to be "youth sponsors" again. We traveled an hour and a half to Onalska, WI, (close to Minnesota) to assist with their junior high ministry. Guess what we played? Dodgeball! I got to speak about Leah and Rachel, how they competed for Jacob's love. I explained how when we try to find love only from other people, they will let us down. Only God can love us and give us the acceptance and self-worth we seek. After that we taught them Four on the Couch...not the easiest game to teach to 14 guys and 3 girls, most of whom bounced around and couldn't sit still. We had a good time though.
The pastor of the church meets in my LDJ group (a group of pastors who meet for prayer, fellowship and sharing). He invited us to help out whenever we can since we don't have a Wednesday night program at our church, and they only have a few "sponsors"....no youth pastor. Hopefully we'll be able to go back again.
Also, last night we met a guy who creates websites. It sounds like we'll be able to create a church website with him. We'll see how that goes. Its amazing how God works things out and connects us with other people. Its amazing how one night of hanging out with junior high boys boosts your spirits. Praise God for his goodness to us.
To all you Brookhaven Paradigm readers, we miss you guys and wish we could be there!
The pastor of the church meets in my LDJ group (a group of pastors who meet for prayer, fellowship and sharing). He invited us to help out whenever we can since we don't have a Wednesday night program at our church, and they only have a few "sponsors"....no youth pastor. Hopefully we'll be able to go back again.
Also, last night we met a guy who creates websites. It sounds like we'll be able to create a church website with him. We'll see how that goes. Its amazing how God works things out and connects us with other people. Its amazing how one night of hanging out with junior high boys boosts your spirits. Praise God for his goodness to us.
To all you Brookhaven Paradigm readers, we miss you guys and wish we could be there!
Sunday, November 12
Sunday Sermon: Our Response to Suffering, Part 1
I promise this time to preach the sequel sermon. Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. So I spoke about persecution and our response to it.
Since we were in Indy for part of the week, I didn't have time to study and write a fully original sermon (no, I don't plan to make this a habit). So credit goes to John MacArthur for the majority of this one. Thanks John.
Introduction: Passage Background
Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 4:12-19. As you’re doing that, I want to give you a bit of background on the passage. As you know, today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. And the book of First Peter was written to a group of Christians living in Rome who were just that: persecuted. On July 19, 64 A.D., Rome burned while Nero goofed off. That's sort of a famous point in history. Everybody remembers that Rome burned and Nero goofed off. Rome was a city of very narrow streets. It was a city of high wooden buildings. They built what would today be known as apartment houses out of wood and they were very close together. The fire spread fast and although it began on that day it lasted three days and nights and it broke out again and again even though they tried to stop it.
The Romans actually believed that the Emperor Nero was responsible for burning their great city and their homes. Why? Because Nero had this strange fixation with building and he wanted to build a new city and so they believed that he burned down the old one. He stood in his tower and watched happily as the city burned to the ground. People who put the fire out or tried to put it out were hindered by his soldiers and new fires were started. The people were absolutely devastated. They lost everything.
All the temples and shrines to their gods, their homes, all their household gods, everything was gone and they were homeless. The resentment obviously was great. The bitterness was deep and somewhat deadly. And so Nero needed to divert the attention away from himself. He needed a scapegoat. So he selected a scapegoat, the Christians. Publicly he blamed the Christians for burning Rome.
It was an ingenious choice on his part because the Christians were already the victims of hatred and already the victims of slander. They were connected with Jews in the minds of most people who were not Christians. And since there was a rather growing anti-Semitism, it was easy to have an anti‑Christian attitude as well. The Lord's Supper which Christians held was closed to pagans and so they sort of developed all kinds of strange imaginations about what happened. They heard about these Christians who were eating flesh and drinking blood and accused them of cannibalism. In fact, they began to say that they ate babies and Gentiles at the Lord's Supper. They also said that the Christian kiss of love at their love feast was about lust and orgy that took place called the Lord's Supper. Christians were also very unpopular because they split families. When a man became a Christian and his wife did not, it was an obvious fracture. Christians also used to talk about a time when the world would be engulfed in flames and so it would be easy to blame them for this fire, thinking they had tried to develop a fulfillment for their own prophecy.
This really began what later developed into a full‑blown persecution. If you go later than Nero to other Roman emperors, you find that what began here as an initial hatred of Christians became a fixed policy. And the question whether a man was a Christian became the most essential part of any charge against him. As a result of this accusation, persecution began. Tacitus, the Roman historian, reported that Nero rolled Christians in pitch or oil and then set fire to them while they were still alive and used them as living torches to light his garden parties. He served them up in the skins of wild animals to his hunting dogs to tear them to shreds. They were nailed to crosses.
Even lynching became very common. Within a few years Christians were imprisoned, racked, seared, broiled, burned, scourged, stoned and hanged. Some were lacerated with hot knives and others thrown on the horns of wild bulls. Dr. H.B. Workman in his book called Persecution in the Early Church wrote this: "For two hundred years from Nero on, the leaders among the Christians were branded as anarchists and atheists and hated accordingly. For two hundred years to become a Christian meant the great renunciation, the joining of a despised and persecuted sect, the swimming against the tide of popular prejudice, the coming under the ban of the Empire, the possibility at any moment of imprisonment and death under its most fearful forms. For two hundred years, he that would follow Christ must count the cost and be prepared to pay the same with his liberty and life. For two hundred years the mere profession of Christianity was itself a crime. ‘I am a Christian’ was almost the one plea for which there was no forgiveness, in itself all that was necessary on the back of the condemned as a title. For the name itself in periods of stress, meant the rack, the blazing shirt of pitch, the lion, the panther, or in the case of maidens, an infamy worse than death."
Now, what is interesting about that in relation to 1 Peter is that most scholars say this letter was probably written just after that all began, some time toward the end of that same year, 64 A.D. So it would be written then at a time when Christians were undergoing the beginnings of the horrors of a two‑hundred year persecution. So, Peter is writing to Christians in fear for their lives. The theme of suffering and our response to it is big in the book, and we want to focus on eight verses that speak of our response.
1 Peter 4:12-19 says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that 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 the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”
Peter gives his readers four key features of a proper response. And if we can get a grip on these it will go a long way to helping us deal with suffering for righteousness’ sake in our own lives. It will also help us as we learn how to pray for those who are persecuted even today. We ought to respond in four ways. Number one, expect it. Number two, rejoice in it. Number three, evaluate its cause. And number four, commit yourself to God. Expect it, rejoice in it, evaluate its cause and entrust yourself to God.
Expect Suffering
In verse 12 it says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." The point here is to expect suffering. Throughout the Bible, we see that persecution is inevitable. In fact, the surprise would be if it didn't come. Matthew 5:10 says we will endure persecution for righteousness. Matthew 5:11-12 says we will be insulted and slandered. Matthew 10 says we will endure false accusations. Matthew 10:14, rejection by men. Matthew 10:17, scourging for Christ. Matthew 10:21 says that brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. In John 15:18 Jesus says that they hated Him, so they're going to hate you. Acts 5:41, we will endure shame for Christ's sake. Acts 7:58 says some of us will be martyred. Acts 12 reminds us that many Christians will endure imprisonment. According to Acts 14:19, some might be stoned. Paul tells disciples in Acts 14:22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” First Corinthians 4 says we will be misunderstood, we will be defamed and we will be despised. First Corinthians 4:9 says we will be made a spectacle to men. Second Corinthians 6:4-10 says we will endure bad reports, beatings, sorrow, loneliness, poverty, and riots. Paul writes to Timothy and says all that live godly in this present age will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). And in 1 John 3:13 it says, “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.”
And so Peter is really echoing the instruction of the others who have written in the New Testament that we're not to be surprised when suffering comes. It's as if he is saying, “Suffering is the price of discipleship.” When you become a Christian, you take up a cross and the cross speaks of pain and suffering and even death. There is definitely a price to pay because if you name the name of Christ you will become a conscience—a sense of right and wrong—to an evil world which does not welcome such a conscience.
What is interesting about this passage is what it does not say. Peter never has to apologize to these believers for mistakenly telling them that God really wants to make them happy. He doesn’t have to say, “Oops. I guess I was wrong about that prosperity gospel.” How often do we hear that message preached? Just accept Jesus as your Savior and he’ll make life great. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to have that brand new car and house. He wants to bless you. God would rather see us holy than happy, and that’s why we must go through and accept suffering. And it’s not like God doesn’t love you. He does.
Just look at how Peter addresses his listeners. Dear friends—literally beloved ones—is a way of reminding these Christians God does love them. It’s a word of tenderness, a word of compassion, a word of affection, a word of care. Back in 1:22 Peter tells them to love one another deeply from the heart. Then in 4:8 he talks about the fact that we are to keep a fervent love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Not only are they to love each other, but they are loved by Peter. And not only that, but they are loved by God, the One our love flows from. What a comfort in a time of persecution and fear for your life. It would be very easy during suffering to question the love of God, to think, do You really love me? Do You really care? That’s why Peter stresses his love for them, which comes from God’s love for him.
Why should we expect to suffer for Christ? Because it helps us when we’re in the middle of it. If it catches us off guard, how much easier would it be to get down in the dumps about it? If you can expect it, you can cushion its initial impact. It’s part of God's design. It's the way He proves the genuineness of your faith and it's the way He purges your life. It takes out all the pride and the illusion of self‑control. It strips you and makes you totally dependent on Him. So if we expect to grow in Christ, we also expect to suffer, as that is one way God grows us and tests us. John MacArthur tells a story of speaking with a Russian pastor. He said, “It must be difficult in Russia to pastor the church.” He replied, "Not so, it must be difficult in America; in Russia we know who the true Christians are.” So it comes for your testing. It's an essential feature of God's working in you to prove you, to purge you, to cleanse you.
So, he says expect it and don't treat it as though some strange thing were happening to you. That verb "were happening" is an interesting verb that means “to fall by chance.” Don't think that when you're persecuted it's something that happened by chance. No, God allowed it and designed it for your testing, your purging, your purification, your cleansing. First it proves whether you're real and then it purges the dross out of your life. Persecution, affliction, suffering are not accidental, nor do they interfere with God's plan. They are right in God's plan, should be common to all Christians, they are common to all faithful Christians. So let’s expect suffering.
Rejoice in It
The second thing that Peter wants to say to us is to rejoice in it. Notice verses 13 and 14. “But rejoice that 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.” The word “rejoice” is in a tense that emphasizes a continued action: keep on rejoicing. This is the right attitude in the midst of persecution.
And you say, “Well what's the motivation for that?” There's a future motivation and a present motivation. The future motivation is that you will share His glory at His revelation. If now, you share—a word taken from koinonia, the big fellowship word—in his sufferings, you will be overjoyed when Christ’s glory is revealed, when He returns to the world. Because what is the other option of rejoicing? It’s denouncing Christ. In the midst of seeing your children being used for Nero’s torches and your spouse torn to shreds by a lion, you can either denounce Christ, turn tail and run, or rejoice. Christ suffered so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness, and by His wounds we are healed. Sharing in his sufferings means that we have chosen to die to sin and to live for righteousness, to live for Him. Sharing in his sufferings means we get to be hated just like Him. What a wonderful privilege, to be treated like our Savior!
When you look at it like that, I’m not sure if there is much of a choice. I’d much rather be treated like Christ than have special privileges because I’m a Christian. And, I get to rejoice when Christ returns. The word translated “overjoyed” is one with more force and weight to it than the normal word for rejoice, which is used at the beginning of the verse. We rejoice now because when Christ comes back, we will rejoice even more. Our joy will increase when Christ’s glory is revealed. What is better? To suffer a little while on earth or to suffer eternally in hell? If we suffer now, we can rejoice, because our joy will increase throughout eternity.
So rejoice because of the future reality of eternal glory. But there's also a present reason for rejoicing. Look at verse 14; this is a present reason for rejoicing. “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed.” The present benefit is being blessed, right here and now. I know I said Christ didn’t come to make us happy. That’s not what being blessed is all about. Being blessed is a result of having the Spirit of God on you. It is therefore not a subjective happiness, where one person is happy and the next happier. Suffering brings God’s presence in a much stronger sense than when life is great. And so our blessing is more a benefit than anything else. We don’t have to go it alone. God is right there with us.
The thing I notice about both of these reasons to rejoice—future and present—is that it’s because of God’s presence. We obviously won’t be excited about being beaten and insulted. I don’t know anyone who wakes up in the morning and desires to be yelled at in order to get them going for the day. But with God’s presence, we have reason to rejoice.
Conclusion: The Persecuted Church Today
Okay, we’ve covered points one and two: expect suffering and rejoice in it. We’ll plan to cover the next two next week. But today, there are questions we must ask ourselves:
1. Do we expect to suffer? Are we surprised when we are insulted because of the name of
Christ?
2. How do we respond to it? Do we have joy that comes from knowing we are loved
and that Christ is with us? Do we remember we will rejoice eternally?
3. Do we take time to remember those who suffer and die each day for Jesus?
Our Christian brothers and sisters are persecuted around the world, and it is easy for us to forget that persecution isn’t just a first-century thing. The Voice of the Martyrs tells the story of a man named Andrew in Bangladesh, a country near India.
Four drivers of four different buses were hired by a militant Muslim group to crash into Andrew’s SUV on the morning of April 24th. On his way to visit 17 Muslim convert families, Andrew was rammed by a bus while in the front passenger seat of his moving vehicle. His left elbow was broken from the impact, and his right forearm was embedded with glass and severely lacerated in five places. The Voice of the Martyrs is providing continuing medical treatment for Andrew, who was attacked for his Christian witness. Immediately after the collision, the bus driver ran from the scene and reported to the leader of the hiring Islamic group that he killed the targeted Christian preacher in the red SUV. Wasting no time, two men from the Islamic group went to the accident site to confirm the bus driver’s account, but they were too late. Andrew’s driver had already driven the smashed SUV away from the scene to the nearest city, where the unconscious Andrew was later admitted to a government hospital. Once at the hospital, doctors cleaned some of Andrew’s wounds and transported him to an operating room where they extracted shattered glass from five large gashes in his left arm. Andrew later regained consciousness, bleeding and in great pain. When Andrew’s brother (a medical doctor) arrived at the hospital, he saw that Andrew’s treatment had been stopped, even though he needed more care. He quickly checked Andrew out of the hospital and took him to another doctor. Together, the two physicians extracted the remainder of the glass from the wounds and dressed them before driving Andrew over 370 miles to a large city.
While traveling to the city, Andrew received four calls on his mobile phone. Even though he was not fully coherent because of the pain during the trip, Andrew remembers callers telling him, “Now you are going to heaven with your Isa (Christ).” Andrew believes that the perpetrating Islamic group kept the hospital staff from cleaning his wounds in the operating room. During the month of June, Andrew received more threatening phone calls from unidentified people within the attacking fundamentalist Muslim group. They confirmed the premeditation of their murder plot by divulging they knew from a source beforehand that he was going to travel in a red SUV to visit a group of Muslim converts on the morning of April 24th. Andrew believes the radical group gave instructions for the first bus driver who saw him on the road to smash into his vehicle. Andrew shared that his most recent phone calls from the militant group express they still plan to kill him. They meticulously described the make, model and color of the passenger vehicle in which he was to be transported and the date and location of his upcoming medical examination. For many years, Andrew has received phone calls threatening him and his family, and this is not the first attempt on his life. But despite all of this hostility and opposition, Andrew remains determined to continue his ministry to Muslim background believers.
This is a story from Indonesia, the country with the world’s greatest population of Muslims. On October 16, 2006, Pastor Irianto Kongkoli was shot and killed by two masked gunmen. He was 42 years old. The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. local time. That morning, Pastor Kongkoli was shopping for tile with his wife, Mrs. Rita Arianti Kopa, and five-year-old daughter, Galatea. The trio took the family van to a local hardware shop. Pastor Kongkoli was browsing the store’s yard when two masked men shot him in the head at a range of two meters. According to witnesses, one of the men was on a motorbike. Following the attack, the masked men fled. Pastor Kongkoli’s wife heard the shots from inside the van and rushed to help her husband. Rita, who is a member of the East Palu police force, immediately took her husband to a hospital for aid. He died that same day. Local police are following a lead on the two men suspected in Pastor Kongkoli’s murder. The suspects are also wanted for the murder of Pastor Susianti Tinulele, a pastor shot in the back of her head during a Sunday service, and the murder of an unidentified employee at a gold shop. Pastor Kongkoli actively worked to promote peace between Christians and Muslims. His body is to be buried in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, instead of Tentena, the Christian district, to prevent retaliation against his death. Pastor Kongkoli is survived by his wife, Rita, and three children. Rita is not seeking retaliation against her husband’s murders, but plans to let local authorities handle the case. “It is God’s will,” she said. “He gives life and then He also takes life.”
Let's pray for the persecuted church now. If you're reading this on the blog, take time to pray now.
Since we were in Indy for part of the week, I didn't have time to study and write a fully original sermon (no, I don't plan to make this a habit). So credit goes to John MacArthur for the majority of this one. Thanks John.
Introduction: Passage Background
Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 4:12-19. As you’re doing that, I want to give you a bit of background on the passage. As you know, today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. And the book of First Peter was written to a group of Christians living in Rome who were just that: persecuted. On July 19, 64 A.D., Rome burned while Nero goofed off. That's sort of a famous point in history. Everybody remembers that Rome burned and Nero goofed off. Rome was a city of very narrow streets. It was a city of high wooden buildings. They built what would today be known as apartment houses out of wood and they were very close together. The fire spread fast and although it began on that day it lasted three days and nights and it broke out again and again even though they tried to stop it.
The Romans actually believed that the Emperor Nero was responsible for burning their great city and their homes. Why? Because Nero had this strange fixation with building and he wanted to build a new city and so they believed that he burned down the old one. He stood in his tower and watched happily as the city burned to the ground. People who put the fire out or tried to put it out were hindered by his soldiers and new fires were started. The people were absolutely devastated. They lost everything.
All the temples and shrines to their gods, their homes, all their household gods, everything was gone and they were homeless. The resentment obviously was great. The bitterness was deep and somewhat deadly. And so Nero needed to divert the attention away from himself. He needed a scapegoat. So he selected a scapegoat, the Christians. Publicly he blamed the Christians for burning Rome.
It was an ingenious choice on his part because the Christians were already the victims of hatred and already the victims of slander. They were connected with Jews in the minds of most people who were not Christians. And since there was a rather growing anti-Semitism, it was easy to have an anti‑Christian attitude as well. The Lord's Supper which Christians held was closed to pagans and so they sort of developed all kinds of strange imaginations about what happened. They heard about these Christians who were eating flesh and drinking blood and accused them of cannibalism. In fact, they began to say that they ate babies and Gentiles at the Lord's Supper. They also said that the Christian kiss of love at their love feast was about lust and orgy that took place called the Lord's Supper. Christians were also very unpopular because they split families. When a man became a Christian and his wife did not, it was an obvious fracture. Christians also used to talk about a time when the world would be engulfed in flames and so it would be easy to blame them for this fire, thinking they had tried to develop a fulfillment for their own prophecy.
This really began what later developed into a full‑blown persecution. If you go later than Nero to other Roman emperors, you find that what began here as an initial hatred of Christians became a fixed policy. And the question whether a man was a Christian became the most essential part of any charge against him. As a result of this accusation, persecution began. Tacitus, the Roman historian, reported that Nero rolled Christians in pitch or oil and then set fire to them while they were still alive and used them as living torches to light his garden parties. He served them up in the skins of wild animals to his hunting dogs to tear them to shreds. They were nailed to crosses.
Even lynching became very common. Within a few years Christians were imprisoned, racked, seared, broiled, burned, scourged, stoned and hanged. Some were lacerated with hot knives and others thrown on the horns of wild bulls. Dr. H.B. Workman in his book called Persecution in the Early Church wrote this: "For two hundred years from Nero on, the leaders among the Christians were branded as anarchists and atheists and hated accordingly. For two hundred years to become a Christian meant the great renunciation, the joining of a despised and persecuted sect, the swimming against the tide of popular prejudice, the coming under the ban of the Empire, the possibility at any moment of imprisonment and death under its most fearful forms. For two hundred years, he that would follow Christ must count the cost and be prepared to pay the same with his liberty and life. For two hundred years the mere profession of Christianity was itself a crime. ‘I am a Christian’ was almost the one plea for which there was no forgiveness, in itself all that was necessary on the back of the condemned as a title. For the name itself in periods of stress, meant the rack, the blazing shirt of pitch, the lion, the panther, or in the case of maidens, an infamy worse than death."
Now, what is interesting about that in relation to 1 Peter is that most scholars say this letter was probably written just after that all began, some time toward the end of that same year, 64 A.D. So it would be written then at a time when Christians were undergoing the beginnings of the horrors of a two‑hundred year persecution. So, Peter is writing to Christians in fear for their lives. The theme of suffering and our response to it is big in the book, and we want to focus on eight verses that speak of our response.
1 Peter 4:12-19 says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that 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 the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”
Peter gives his readers four key features of a proper response. And if we can get a grip on these it will go a long way to helping us deal with suffering for righteousness’ sake in our own lives. It will also help us as we learn how to pray for those who are persecuted even today. We ought to respond in four ways. Number one, expect it. Number two, rejoice in it. Number three, evaluate its cause. And number four, commit yourself to God. Expect it, rejoice in it, evaluate its cause and entrust yourself to God.
Expect Suffering
In verse 12 it says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." The point here is to expect suffering. Throughout the Bible, we see that persecution is inevitable. In fact, the surprise would be if it didn't come. Matthew 5:10 says we will endure persecution for righteousness. Matthew 5:11-12 says we will be insulted and slandered. Matthew 10 says we will endure false accusations. Matthew 10:14, rejection by men. Matthew 10:17, scourging for Christ. Matthew 10:21 says that brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. In John 15:18 Jesus says that they hated Him, so they're going to hate you. Acts 5:41, we will endure shame for Christ's sake. Acts 7:58 says some of us will be martyred. Acts 12 reminds us that many Christians will endure imprisonment. According to Acts 14:19, some might be stoned. Paul tells disciples in Acts 14:22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” First Corinthians 4 says we will be misunderstood, we will be defamed and we will be despised. First Corinthians 4:9 says we will be made a spectacle to men. Second Corinthians 6:4-10 says we will endure bad reports, beatings, sorrow, loneliness, poverty, and riots. Paul writes to Timothy and says all that live godly in this present age will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). And in 1 John 3:13 it says, “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.”
And so Peter is really echoing the instruction of the others who have written in the New Testament that we're not to be surprised when suffering comes. It's as if he is saying, “Suffering is the price of discipleship.” When you become a Christian, you take up a cross and the cross speaks of pain and suffering and even death. There is definitely a price to pay because if you name the name of Christ you will become a conscience—a sense of right and wrong—to an evil world which does not welcome such a conscience.
What is interesting about this passage is what it does not say. Peter never has to apologize to these believers for mistakenly telling them that God really wants to make them happy. He doesn’t have to say, “Oops. I guess I was wrong about that prosperity gospel.” How often do we hear that message preached? Just accept Jesus as your Savior and he’ll make life great. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to have that brand new car and house. He wants to bless you. God would rather see us holy than happy, and that’s why we must go through and accept suffering. And it’s not like God doesn’t love you. He does.
Just look at how Peter addresses his listeners. Dear friends—literally beloved ones—is a way of reminding these Christians God does love them. It’s a word of tenderness, a word of compassion, a word of affection, a word of care. Back in 1:22 Peter tells them to love one another deeply from the heart. Then in 4:8 he talks about the fact that we are to keep a fervent love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Not only are they to love each other, but they are loved by Peter. And not only that, but they are loved by God, the One our love flows from. What a comfort in a time of persecution and fear for your life. It would be very easy during suffering to question the love of God, to think, do You really love me? Do You really care? That’s why Peter stresses his love for them, which comes from God’s love for him.
Why should we expect to suffer for Christ? Because it helps us when we’re in the middle of it. If it catches us off guard, how much easier would it be to get down in the dumps about it? If you can expect it, you can cushion its initial impact. It’s part of God's design. It's the way He proves the genuineness of your faith and it's the way He purges your life. It takes out all the pride and the illusion of self‑control. It strips you and makes you totally dependent on Him. So if we expect to grow in Christ, we also expect to suffer, as that is one way God grows us and tests us. John MacArthur tells a story of speaking with a Russian pastor. He said, “It must be difficult in Russia to pastor the church.” He replied, "Not so, it must be difficult in America; in Russia we know who the true Christians are.” So it comes for your testing. It's an essential feature of God's working in you to prove you, to purge you, to cleanse you.
So, he says expect it and don't treat it as though some strange thing were happening to you. That verb "were happening" is an interesting verb that means “to fall by chance.” Don't think that when you're persecuted it's something that happened by chance. No, God allowed it and designed it for your testing, your purging, your purification, your cleansing. First it proves whether you're real and then it purges the dross out of your life. Persecution, affliction, suffering are not accidental, nor do they interfere with God's plan. They are right in God's plan, should be common to all Christians, they are common to all faithful Christians. So let’s expect suffering.
Rejoice in It
The second thing that Peter wants to say to us is to rejoice in it. Notice verses 13 and 14. “But rejoice that 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.” The word “rejoice” is in a tense that emphasizes a continued action: keep on rejoicing. This is the right attitude in the midst of persecution.
And you say, “Well what's the motivation for that?” There's a future motivation and a present motivation. The future motivation is that you will share His glory at His revelation. If now, you share—a word taken from koinonia, the big fellowship word—in his sufferings, you will be overjoyed when Christ’s glory is revealed, when He returns to the world. Because what is the other option of rejoicing? It’s denouncing Christ. In the midst of seeing your children being used for Nero’s torches and your spouse torn to shreds by a lion, you can either denounce Christ, turn tail and run, or rejoice. Christ suffered so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness, and by His wounds we are healed. Sharing in his sufferings means that we have chosen to die to sin and to live for righteousness, to live for Him. Sharing in his sufferings means we get to be hated just like Him. What a wonderful privilege, to be treated like our Savior!
When you look at it like that, I’m not sure if there is much of a choice. I’d much rather be treated like Christ than have special privileges because I’m a Christian. And, I get to rejoice when Christ returns. The word translated “overjoyed” is one with more force and weight to it than the normal word for rejoice, which is used at the beginning of the verse. We rejoice now because when Christ comes back, we will rejoice even more. Our joy will increase when Christ’s glory is revealed. What is better? To suffer a little while on earth or to suffer eternally in hell? If we suffer now, we can rejoice, because our joy will increase throughout eternity.
So rejoice because of the future reality of eternal glory. But there's also a present reason for rejoicing. Look at verse 14; this is a present reason for rejoicing. “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed.” The present benefit is being blessed, right here and now. I know I said Christ didn’t come to make us happy. That’s not what being blessed is all about. Being blessed is a result of having the Spirit of God on you. It is therefore not a subjective happiness, where one person is happy and the next happier. Suffering brings God’s presence in a much stronger sense than when life is great. And so our blessing is more a benefit than anything else. We don’t have to go it alone. God is right there with us.
The thing I notice about both of these reasons to rejoice—future and present—is that it’s because of God’s presence. We obviously won’t be excited about being beaten and insulted. I don’t know anyone who wakes up in the morning and desires to be yelled at in order to get them going for the day. But with God’s presence, we have reason to rejoice.
Conclusion: The Persecuted Church Today
Okay, we’ve covered points one and two: expect suffering and rejoice in it. We’ll plan to cover the next two next week. But today, there are questions we must ask ourselves:
1. Do we expect to suffer? Are we surprised when we are insulted because of the name of
Christ?
2. How do we respond to it? Do we have joy that comes from knowing we are loved
and that Christ is with us? Do we remember we will rejoice eternally?
3. Do we take time to remember those who suffer and die each day for Jesus?
Our Christian brothers and sisters are persecuted around the world, and it is easy for us to forget that persecution isn’t just a first-century thing. The Voice of the Martyrs tells the story of a man named Andrew in Bangladesh, a country near India.
Four drivers of four different buses were hired by a militant Muslim group to crash into Andrew’s SUV on the morning of April 24th. On his way to visit 17 Muslim convert families, Andrew was rammed by a bus while in the front passenger seat of his moving vehicle. His left elbow was broken from the impact, and his right forearm was embedded with glass and severely lacerated in five places. The Voice of the Martyrs is providing continuing medical treatment for Andrew, who was attacked for his Christian witness. Immediately after the collision, the bus driver ran from the scene and reported to the leader of the hiring Islamic group that he killed the targeted Christian preacher in the red SUV. Wasting no time, two men from the Islamic group went to the accident site to confirm the bus driver’s account, but they were too late. Andrew’s driver had already driven the smashed SUV away from the scene to the nearest city, where the unconscious Andrew was later admitted to a government hospital. Once at the hospital, doctors cleaned some of Andrew’s wounds and transported him to an operating room where they extracted shattered glass from five large gashes in his left arm. Andrew later regained consciousness, bleeding and in great pain. When Andrew’s brother (a medical doctor) arrived at the hospital, he saw that Andrew’s treatment had been stopped, even though he needed more care. He quickly checked Andrew out of the hospital and took him to another doctor. Together, the two physicians extracted the remainder of the glass from the wounds and dressed them before driving Andrew over 370 miles to a large city.
While traveling to the city, Andrew received four calls on his mobile phone. Even though he was not fully coherent because of the pain during the trip, Andrew remembers callers telling him, “Now you are going to heaven with your Isa (Christ).” Andrew believes that the perpetrating Islamic group kept the hospital staff from cleaning his wounds in the operating room. During the month of June, Andrew received more threatening phone calls from unidentified people within the attacking fundamentalist Muslim group. They confirmed the premeditation of their murder plot by divulging they knew from a source beforehand that he was going to travel in a red SUV to visit a group of Muslim converts on the morning of April 24th. Andrew believes the radical group gave instructions for the first bus driver who saw him on the road to smash into his vehicle. Andrew shared that his most recent phone calls from the militant group express they still plan to kill him. They meticulously described the make, model and color of the passenger vehicle in which he was to be transported and the date and location of his upcoming medical examination. For many years, Andrew has received phone calls threatening him and his family, and this is not the first attempt on his life. But despite all of this hostility and opposition, Andrew remains determined to continue his ministry to Muslim background believers.
This is a story from Indonesia, the country with the world’s greatest population of Muslims. On October 16, 2006, Pastor Irianto Kongkoli was shot and killed by two masked gunmen. He was 42 years old. The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. local time. That morning, Pastor Kongkoli was shopping for tile with his wife, Mrs. Rita Arianti Kopa, and five-year-old daughter, Galatea. The trio took the family van to a local hardware shop. Pastor Kongkoli was browsing the store’s yard when two masked men shot him in the head at a range of two meters. According to witnesses, one of the men was on a motorbike. Following the attack, the masked men fled. Pastor Kongkoli’s wife heard the shots from inside the van and rushed to help her husband. Rita, who is a member of the East Palu police force, immediately took her husband to a hospital for aid. He died that same day. Local police are following a lead on the two men suspected in Pastor Kongkoli’s murder. The suspects are also wanted for the murder of Pastor Susianti Tinulele, a pastor shot in the back of her head during a Sunday service, and the murder of an unidentified employee at a gold shop. Pastor Kongkoli actively worked to promote peace between Christians and Muslims. His body is to be buried in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, instead of Tentena, the Christian district, to prevent retaliation against his death. Pastor Kongkoli is survived by his wife, Rita, and three children. Rita is not seeking retaliation against her husband’s murders, but plans to let local authorities handle the case. “It is God’s will,” she said. “He gives life and then He also takes life.”
Let's pray for the persecuted church now. If you're reading this on the blog, take time to pray now.
Friday, November 10
Prayer Requests & a Good Week
This week has been wonderful. Why? Because we traveled back down to Indianapolis for an orientation for new pastors at the Wesleyan Headquarters. Not only was it good to meet the "major" people in the Wesleyan Church and have many of our questions answered, but we also met up with Stephen Mowat & Phil & Stephanie Stuller...it was a HUGE joy and blessing to be with them for those 2 days. We found out that the Stullers' Sunday School class is praying for us each week (a big thank you!), and we were able to spend a bit of time with both of our families. So we've definitely had a pick-me-up from the Lord.
Tomorrow our leadership team travels to Madison to attend a church health assessment conference by Lonnie Bullock of New Church Specialties. We are praying that our team will sense the vital need for change in our church, and that we will have more wisdon with how to proceed in this refocus/restart process.
I just opened the door to 2 missionary girls from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had a good hour of talking and listening . . . and I am taking their arrival on my doorstep as an opportunity to pray for them and minister to them. They will soon be helping me put up the rest of the wallpaper border in my house, and we will get together for a Bible Study next week (their idea, which I will be bathing in prayer this coming week). Please pray with me. They are sweet girls . . . and just our ages. Pray that I would have a heart of patience with them, and that the Holy Spirit would open their minds and hearts to His TRUTH.
Josh is preaching about the persecuted church this Sunday...I am looking forward to hearing his message.
A few more prayer requests to take to Jesus:
1) We need nursery workers . . . we finally have a couple of babies whose parents are starting to attend service and I am struggling doing the nursery thing all alone (as well as leading worship & teaching Sunday School).
2) Eight kids were at the church last week (WOW!), but only 2 are committed to attending Sunday School time, when our kids programming happens. The others come just every now and then, and some don't actually come to the service time at all. Pray that we would have a solution to this...knowing how to minister to these kids and their families...how to love them and provide God moments for them to grow like Christ. And pray that their families would encourage them to be a part of our congregation.
3) Please ask the Lord to change us into a welcoming congregation where visitors and new attenders feel accepted and very loved.
It is snowing outside right now...our 4th snowfall of the season, but the first one that is really sticking. It's actually very beautiful. We should have 1-2 inches by nightfall.
Question to Ponder: The Mormon girls asked me this question as they were leaving: "Do you think that people are more apt to repent of their sins when it is winter/snowing because of the reminder of a pure cleansing?" Great question...
Thanks for praying for Josh and me up here in our mission field. God has definitely placed us here...and He will surely show us what He wants to accomplish.
Tomorrow our leadership team travels to Madison to attend a church health assessment conference by Lonnie Bullock of New Church Specialties. We are praying that our team will sense the vital need for change in our church, and that we will have more wisdon with how to proceed in this refocus/restart process.
I just opened the door to 2 missionary girls from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had a good hour of talking and listening . . . and I am taking their arrival on my doorstep as an opportunity to pray for them and minister to them. They will soon be helping me put up the rest of the wallpaper border in my house, and we will get together for a Bible Study next week (their idea, which I will be bathing in prayer this coming week). Please pray with me. They are sweet girls . . . and just our ages. Pray that I would have a heart of patience with them, and that the Holy Spirit would open their minds and hearts to His TRUTH.
Josh is preaching about the persecuted church this Sunday...I am looking forward to hearing his message.
A few more prayer requests to take to Jesus:
1) We need nursery workers . . . we finally have a couple of babies whose parents are starting to attend service and I am struggling doing the nursery thing all alone (as well as leading worship & teaching Sunday School).
2) Eight kids were at the church last week (WOW!), but only 2 are committed to attending Sunday School time, when our kids programming happens. The others come just every now and then, and some don't actually come to the service time at all. Pray that we would have a solution to this...knowing how to minister to these kids and their families...how to love them and provide God moments for them to grow like Christ. And pray that their families would encourage them to be a part of our congregation.
3) Please ask the Lord to change us into a welcoming congregation where visitors and new attenders feel accepted and very loved.
It is snowing outside right now...our 4th snowfall of the season, but the first one that is really sticking. It's actually very beautiful. We should have 1-2 inches by nightfall.
Question to Ponder: The Mormon girls asked me this question as they were leaving: "Do you think that people are more apt to repent of their sins when it is winter/snowing because of the reminder of a pure cleansing?" Great question...
Thanks for praying for Josh and me up here in our mission field. God has definitely placed us here...and He will surely show us what He wants to accomplish.
Monday, November 6
Prayer Request
Today I spent the morning at Baraboo's hospital with our treasurer and his mom. She was taken into the emergency room with trouble breathing (she's 88). After some tests the doctor told us she had congestive heart failure. For a while it looked like she might not make it, and I know our treasurer is really close to his mother. Please pray for her and for him and his brother and sister.
He called me tonight to say she started talking again and is feeling a bit better. Pray (I know this sounds weird) that nothing happens while we're in Indiana this week.
And pray for Ted Haggard and his family and church and those who look up to him as an evangelical Christian leader.
God's listening now, so take five minutes and pray! Blessings...
He called me tonight to say she started talking again and is feeling a bit better. Pray (I know this sounds weird) that nothing happens while we're in Indiana this week.
And pray for Ted Haggard and his family and church and those who look up to him as an evangelical Christian leader.
God's listening now, so take five minutes and pray! Blessings...
Sunday, November 5
Sunday Sermon: It's All About the Gap
Today I preached from Psalm 8, about the gap between us God, finite and infinite. "The Fourth Part" was amazing, and we had a good potluck after service. Enjoy the sermon!
Introduction: The Gap
In 1997, a man from New York jumped over 23 miles on a pogo stick. In 1998, this same man walked almost 81 miles while balancing a bottle of milk on his head. From May 17th, 2004 to July 18th, 2005 two Brazilian men windsurfed for 5,045 miles along the coast of Brazil. From April 25 to August 6th, 2005, a Russian man drove a tractor for 13,172 miles. And from May 31st, 2000 to February 14, 2001, a man drove a riding lawn mower 14,594.5 miles across all 48 states and parts of Mexico and Canada.
Pretty crazy huh? You know what is so impressive about those feats? It’s the distance. That and the fact that someone would spend over 1 year of their life driving a mower. No, what is really amazing is the distance. No one would care if the guy balances a milk bottle on his head for an hour or goes across a parking lot with a pogo stick. Big deal. It’s the distance that makes these people incredible.
Jamie and I went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for our honeymoon, and I can remember the drive down. It took 17 hours driving in one day for us to get there. And we didn’t mess around. It’s not like we took the scenic route and took bathroom breaks every hour on the hour. We got to our destination at 1:00 in the morning. What a drive! Like those other big records, the amazing thing about our drive was the distance. And this is what I want to talk about today. Distance. The distance between you and me and God—and how that distance is necessary for us to worship Him.
The third century Christian Novatian said, “God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Could we conceive of His greatness He would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. All our thoughts about Him are less than He, and our loftiest utterances are trivialties in comparison with Him.” He is speaking of the infinitude of God, of how God is infinite and we are finite. And because of this we can never fully comprehend God. Not only can we not comprehend Him except what He reveals to us, we must realize how utterly different we are from Him. And in so doing, we must make a choice: ignore Him as One pointless to try to love, or to worship Him because of how great He is.
The writer of Psalm 8 chooses the latter: to worship Him. And I would ask us today to consider the great distance, the gap, between us and God, and choose to renew our passion for worshiping Him, singing to the God of wonders beyond our galaxy.
If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Psalm 8. It says, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Now in order to understand the gap between us and God, we must know a little about who God is and who we are. So, let's look at what the psalmist says.
Who God Is
The psalmist begins by addressing God as LORD. In my Bible, it’s in all capital letters. That’s because the Hebrew word is Yahweh, God’s proper name. The root of Yahweh means “to be.” That’s why, when Moses asks God what His name is, God tells him, “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you” (Exodus 2:14). God is. There was no beginning to God, there will not be an end to God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—the beginning and the end.
Yahweh also means that God doesn’t change. His name isn’t “I AM love sometimes and I AM hate other times. Or, I AM merciful sometimes and I AM vengeful sometimes.” God’s nature never changes; He never changes. Yahweh also stresses the faithfulness of God. The LORD promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob He would be their God and they would be His people; that He would give them land as a place of service and inheritance. The LORD then calls Moses to lead Israel into this land, and He brings them to it, thus fulfilling His promise. Yahweh is a covenant God who makes promises and keeps them.
Then he calls God “Lord,” this time not in all capital letters. The Hebrew for this word is Adonai, which means “master, ruler, owner, lord.” This name is frequently used when a person is worshiping God. When one wanted to praise God, to acknowledge God’s majesty and greatness He would call Him Adonai. Adonai also is a humbling name for the one speaking it. It reminds us that God is our master and we are His servants.
As Yahweh and Lord, God is majestic. He is mighty, and He is glorious. This word has connotations of one being a noble, of a higher social class than others. And it makes sense that God would be majestic, in light of what we hear later on. His majesty is reflected in the awesome creation seen in the heavens. Only a God who is majestic, powerful, could create the moon and the stars. Only his fingers could be responsible for setting everything in its place. When you know the character of God, the things God does make more sense.
It’s like a buddy I had in high school named John Stangland. He did everything he could not to conform to social norms. He would trip himself in the hall just to get a laugh, or walk by someone and tap them on the shoulder just to get a look. A few years after we graduated, John got married. It was no wonder that at his wedding he wore tennis shoes with bright pink shoelaces and a bright green shirt with a bright pink tie. That was John. If he would have worn a normal tux I would have questioned what happened to him.
God is majestic…powerful, awesome. Therefore it should come as no surprise to us the wonder of His creation we see all around us. His creation speaks to His majesty, and because of it we know how great and unfathomable God is.
Scientists tell me they cannot count the number of stars in the universe, but guess there to be an excess of one billion times one billion stars. And odds are David, looking up into a starry night sky could not begin to count them either. He may have tried, and then about halfway—okay, not even one percent of the way—through given up. It’s like dropping a glass bottle off the top of this church building and then trying to glue it back together again. You just can’t do it. Looking into the sky, seeing the work of God and knowing the one who made it leaves only one logical next step: not trying to comprehend that one, but seeing how small you are in comparison.
Who We Are
It is tempting to think that we, as human beings, rule the universe. The passage does describe us as being put in charge of the works of God’s hands: flocks, beasts, birds and fish. We are smarter than animals, we have emotions, a soul, can communicate sophistically, and on and on. But we must remember that we are only in charge of these creatures because their Creator has made it so.
And quite frankly, we are only humans. When the psalmist writes about us, he says, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” The word he uses for man is one that speaks of man’s insignificance or inferiority. Job 33:12 uses the same word to say, “God is greater than man.”
John Wesley once preached a sermon from this passage, and in it he spoke of the finiteness of man. He said, “What is one individual compared to all the inhabitants of Great Britain?” At that time he thought there were between 8 and 10 million people. Then he asked, “What are all the inhabitants of Great Britain compared to all the inhabitants of the earth?” At that time, it was guessed that there were 400 million people on earth. Now there are over 6 billion people on earth. So, what is one man compared to six billion others? What is Josh Hilty compared to them, that God would be mindful of me, the word literally meaning that God would “remember” me?
Then John Wesley thought, “What is the magnitude of the earth compared to that of the solar system?” Especially once you think that Earth is much smaller than some of the other planets and the moon. And then he thought, “What is the magnitude of the solar system compared to that of the rest of creation that man cannot see?” It is inconceivable. And finally, John Wesley thought, “What is all of this…the earth, the solar system and everything beyond it…all that is finite, compared to the Infinite God?” He said we should think of this question, and then ask, “What is man?”
Man is defined in this passage in relation to what God has made him. God made him a little lower than the angels. God made him ruler of His handiwork. Whereas God is defined by Who He is. Nothing outside of God defines Him. Neither you or I or anyone else who has grand ideas about who God is can define Him. He is the I AM.
The Gap
And here’s where worship comes in. Worship is taking in all of that: that God is bigger than we are and we are tiny little people in comparison to all of His creation, and then deciding to praise God for it. The key to all of it is the gap between us and God. If there were no gap, how do you think we would respond to God’s handiwork? “Nice stars God. Give me another hour and I’ll count them all. Oh, I like that moon. But it’s not quite a full circle. You see all those craters…yeah, they distort its shape. Fill in the craters and it will be perfect.” If there is no gap, there is no awe and wonder. If we feel we are even remotely close to understanding God, worship will never make sense to us. Because we feel like we have God down, like we have His number. And instead of worship our goal would become trying to figure God out. That’s why there’s a gap.
I love to sing. If you could be a fly on the wall in my office on any given day, you would hear music playing and me belting out the melody or a tenor harmony. I’ve been singing in choirs ever since I was in fourth grade. In high school I was part of an octet of guys who sang southern gospel music at local churches, something like what The Fourth Part did today. I also was part of my church’s praise band. And in college I traveled with four of those same guys for another year as Brother’s Keeper. We sang at churches on the weekends, and in the summer sang at Wesleyan Church Camps. I was in Indiana Wesleyan’s choir for three years. I love to sing. For me, it’s a way to tell God I love Him. Singing is my main avenue for praising God. The words to songs in our hymnal and to modern worship songs express the way I feel so much better than I ever could.
I have to confess that I went through a phase in college of being critical of worship. I analyzed songs and who was singing them. I picked apart their words, and only if I liked the words would I sing the song. How silly of me. Worship is not about that. It’s about recognizing how small we are and how big God is. I know that we’ve heard a lot of music today, but I want us to hear a song from Phillips, Craig and Dean called “How Great You Are.” It expresses everything I’ve been trying to say to you, and everything that Psalm 8 is saying.
Conclusion: How Majestic is Your Name
It’s all about the gap. And as we know, the gap between us and God is beyond our understanding. It’s greater than all the distances traveled by guys on tractors and pogo sticks. It’s greater than the number of stars in the universe. And for that reason, I praise Him. And I ask that you praise Him too. If nothing else, walk out of here with a renewed sense of the majesty of God. And when we come back here next week, be ready to praise Him.
Introduction: The Gap
In 1997, a man from New York jumped over 23 miles on a pogo stick. In 1998, this same man walked almost 81 miles while balancing a bottle of milk on his head. From May 17th, 2004 to July 18th, 2005 two Brazilian men windsurfed for 5,045 miles along the coast of Brazil. From April 25 to August 6th, 2005, a Russian man drove a tractor for 13,172 miles. And from May 31st, 2000 to February 14, 2001, a man drove a riding lawn mower 14,594.5 miles across all 48 states and parts of Mexico and Canada.
Pretty crazy huh? You know what is so impressive about those feats? It’s the distance. That and the fact that someone would spend over 1 year of their life driving a mower. No, what is really amazing is the distance. No one would care if the guy balances a milk bottle on his head for an hour or goes across a parking lot with a pogo stick. Big deal. It’s the distance that makes these people incredible.
Jamie and I went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for our honeymoon, and I can remember the drive down. It took 17 hours driving in one day for us to get there. And we didn’t mess around. It’s not like we took the scenic route and took bathroom breaks every hour on the hour. We got to our destination at 1:00 in the morning. What a drive! Like those other big records, the amazing thing about our drive was the distance. And this is what I want to talk about today. Distance. The distance between you and me and God—and how that distance is necessary for us to worship Him.
The third century Christian Novatian said, “God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Could we conceive of His greatness He would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. All our thoughts about Him are less than He, and our loftiest utterances are trivialties in comparison with Him.” He is speaking of the infinitude of God, of how God is infinite and we are finite. And because of this we can never fully comprehend God. Not only can we not comprehend Him except what He reveals to us, we must realize how utterly different we are from Him. And in so doing, we must make a choice: ignore Him as One pointless to try to love, or to worship Him because of how great He is.
The writer of Psalm 8 chooses the latter: to worship Him. And I would ask us today to consider the great distance, the gap, between us and God, and choose to renew our passion for worshiping Him, singing to the God of wonders beyond our galaxy.
If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Psalm 8. It says, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Now in order to understand the gap between us and God, we must know a little about who God is and who we are. So, let's look at what the psalmist says.
Who God Is
The psalmist begins by addressing God as LORD. In my Bible, it’s in all capital letters. That’s because the Hebrew word is Yahweh, God’s proper name. The root of Yahweh means “to be.” That’s why, when Moses asks God what His name is, God tells him, “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you” (Exodus 2:14). God is. There was no beginning to God, there will not be an end to God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—the beginning and the end.
Yahweh also means that God doesn’t change. His name isn’t “I AM love sometimes and I AM hate other times. Or, I AM merciful sometimes and I AM vengeful sometimes.” God’s nature never changes; He never changes. Yahweh also stresses the faithfulness of God. The LORD promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob He would be their God and they would be His people; that He would give them land as a place of service and inheritance. The LORD then calls Moses to lead Israel into this land, and He brings them to it, thus fulfilling His promise. Yahweh is a covenant God who makes promises and keeps them.
Then he calls God “Lord,” this time not in all capital letters. The Hebrew for this word is Adonai, which means “master, ruler, owner, lord.” This name is frequently used when a person is worshiping God. When one wanted to praise God, to acknowledge God’s majesty and greatness He would call Him Adonai. Adonai also is a humbling name for the one speaking it. It reminds us that God is our master and we are His servants.
As Yahweh and Lord, God is majestic. He is mighty, and He is glorious. This word has connotations of one being a noble, of a higher social class than others. And it makes sense that God would be majestic, in light of what we hear later on. His majesty is reflected in the awesome creation seen in the heavens. Only a God who is majestic, powerful, could create the moon and the stars. Only his fingers could be responsible for setting everything in its place. When you know the character of God, the things God does make more sense.
It’s like a buddy I had in high school named John Stangland. He did everything he could not to conform to social norms. He would trip himself in the hall just to get a laugh, or walk by someone and tap them on the shoulder just to get a look. A few years after we graduated, John got married. It was no wonder that at his wedding he wore tennis shoes with bright pink shoelaces and a bright green shirt with a bright pink tie. That was John. If he would have worn a normal tux I would have questioned what happened to him.
God is majestic…powerful, awesome. Therefore it should come as no surprise to us the wonder of His creation we see all around us. His creation speaks to His majesty, and because of it we know how great and unfathomable God is.
Scientists tell me they cannot count the number of stars in the universe, but guess there to be an excess of one billion times one billion stars. And odds are David, looking up into a starry night sky could not begin to count them either. He may have tried, and then about halfway—okay, not even one percent of the way—through given up. It’s like dropping a glass bottle off the top of this church building and then trying to glue it back together again. You just can’t do it. Looking into the sky, seeing the work of God and knowing the one who made it leaves only one logical next step: not trying to comprehend that one, but seeing how small you are in comparison.
Who We Are
It is tempting to think that we, as human beings, rule the universe. The passage does describe us as being put in charge of the works of God’s hands: flocks, beasts, birds and fish. We are smarter than animals, we have emotions, a soul, can communicate sophistically, and on and on. But we must remember that we are only in charge of these creatures because their Creator has made it so.
And quite frankly, we are only humans. When the psalmist writes about us, he says, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” The word he uses for man is one that speaks of man’s insignificance or inferiority. Job 33:12 uses the same word to say, “God is greater than man.”
John Wesley once preached a sermon from this passage, and in it he spoke of the finiteness of man. He said, “What is one individual compared to all the inhabitants of Great Britain?” At that time he thought there were between 8 and 10 million people. Then he asked, “What are all the inhabitants of Great Britain compared to all the inhabitants of the earth?” At that time, it was guessed that there were 400 million people on earth. Now there are over 6 billion people on earth. So, what is one man compared to six billion others? What is Josh Hilty compared to them, that God would be mindful of me, the word literally meaning that God would “remember” me?
Then John Wesley thought, “What is the magnitude of the earth compared to that of the solar system?” Especially once you think that Earth is much smaller than some of the other planets and the moon. And then he thought, “What is the magnitude of the solar system compared to that of the rest of creation that man cannot see?” It is inconceivable. And finally, John Wesley thought, “What is all of this…the earth, the solar system and everything beyond it…all that is finite, compared to the Infinite God?” He said we should think of this question, and then ask, “What is man?”
Man is defined in this passage in relation to what God has made him. God made him a little lower than the angels. God made him ruler of His handiwork. Whereas God is defined by Who He is. Nothing outside of God defines Him. Neither you or I or anyone else who has grand ideas about who God is can define Him. He is the I AM.
The Gap
And here’s where worship comes in. Worship is taking in all of that: that God is bigger than we are and we are tiny little people in comparison to all of His creation, and then deciding to praise God for it. The key to all of it is the gap between us and God. If there were no gap, how do you think we would respond to God’s handiwork? “Nice stars God. Give me another hour and I’ll count them all. Oh, I like that moon. But it’s not quite a full circle. You see all those craters…yeah, they distort its shape. Fill in the craters and it will be perfect.” If there is no gap, there is no awe and wonder. If we feel we are even remotely close to understanding God, worship will never make sense to us. Because we feel like we have God down, like we have His number. And instead of worship our goal would become trying to figure God out. That’s why there’s a gap.
I love to sing. If you could be a fly on the wall in my office on any given day, you would hear music playing and me belting out the melody or a tenor harmony. I’ve been singing in choirs ever since I was in fourth grade. In high school I was part of an octet of guys who sang southern gospel music at local churches, something like what The Fourth Part did today. I also was part of my church’s praise band. And in college I traveled with four of those same guys for another year as Brother’s Keeper. We sang at churches on the weekends, and in the summer sang at Wesleyan Church Camps. I was in Indiana Wesleyan’s choir for three years. I love to sing. For me, it’s a way to tell God I love Him. Singing is my main avenue for praising God. The words to songs in our hymnal and to modern worship songs express the way I feel so much better than I ever could.
I have to confess that I went through a phase in college of being critical of worship. I analyzed songs and who was singing them. I picked apart their words, and only if I liked the words would I sing the song. How silly of me. Worship is not about that. It’s about recognizing how small we are and how big God is. I know that we’ve heard a lot of music today, but I want us to hear a song from Phillips, Craig and Dean called “How Great You Are.” It expresses everything I’ve been trying to say to you, and everything that Psalm 8 is saying.
Conclusion: How Majestic is Your Name
It’s all about the gap. And as we know, the gap between us and God is beyond our understanding. It’s greater than all the distances traveled by guys on tractors and pogo sticks. It’s greater than the number of stars in the universe. And for that reason, I praise Him. And I ask that you praise Him too. If nothing else, walk out of here with a renewed sense of the majesty of God. And when we come back here next week, be ready to praise Him.
Saturday, November 4
Prayer Update
Thank you all for praying. Again, we know God is moving in reponse to your prayers. Since the last update, the woman we mentioned has come to salvation in Christ! Praise God! Jamie is going to begin meeting with her both as friends and as a mentor/discipler. We've given her a Bible and she has started to read it. Continue to pray for her and her family, as the Evil One will be at work. This Sunday we're having a mini-concert by a local group called The Fourth Part, and afterward a potluck.
Thursday Josh met with a couple who is planning to get married at our church in September. We went over things like pre-marital counseling, fees, and reasons why I would not marry a couple. One of those is if one is a Christian and one is not. Our discussion focused on this topic, as the woman is a nominal Christian and her fiance a non-Christian. It's so tempting to post more information, but I won't. Just pray that through our meetings they would come to Christ or to a fuller commitment to Him.
We are going to Indianapolis again next Tuesday through Thursday for a New Pastor's Orientation at the Wesleyan Church Headquarters. Pray for safety and a good time meeting other new pastors (probably some of the same people I graduated with...who knows?).
Again, thanks for praying. Updates on last week's prayer requests:
1. Our leadership team found a time to meet for last week, but still no set time. We will be going to Madison on the 11th for a church health conference. We hope it will open our eyes to the desperate needs of our church, as right now there is no sense of urgency.
2. We haven't had any other conflicts.
3. Jamie and I both still have our days of restlessness. We were blessed to have Janet, Shawn and Tiffany with us last weekend. Thanks you guys (Shawn, we just bought a new computer. Thanks for the advice.).
4. This one will be a long-running prayer request I think. But keep praying. We'll let you know how our church responds to be asked to help with things (such as the new nursery).
5. God is still giving us His grace. Without it we would be either extremely depressed or back in Indiana. HAHA! We're doing great, and we praise God for Himself, the Great I AM.
Love you all,
Josh
Thursday Josh met with a couple who is planning to get married at our church in September. We went over things like pre-marital counseling, fees, and reasons why I would not marry a couple. One of those is if one is a Christian and one is not. Our discussion focused on this topic, as the woman is a nominal Christian and her fiance a non-Christian. It's so tempting to post more information, but I won't. Just pray that through our meetings they would come to Christ or to a fuller commitment to Him.
We are going to Indianapolis again next Tuesday through Thursday for a New Pastor's Orientation at the Wesleyan Church Headquarters. Pray for safety and a good time meeting other new pastors (probably some of the same people I graduated with...who knows?).
Again, thanks for praying. Updates on last week's prayer requests:
1. Our leadership team found a time to meet for last week, but still no set time. We will be going to Madison on the 11th for a church health conference. We hope it will open our eyes to the desperate needs of our church, as right now there is no sense of urgency.
2. We haven't had any other conflicts.
3. Jamie and I both still have our days of restlessness. We were blessed to have Janet, Shawn and Tiffany with us last weekend. Thanks you guys (Shawn, we just bought a new computer. Thanks for the advice.).
4. This one will be a long-running prayer request I think. But keep praying. We'll let you know how our church responds to be asked to help with things (such as the new nursery).
5. God is still giving us His grace. Without it we would be either extremely depressed or back in Indiana. HAHA! We're doing great, and we praise God for Himself, the Great I AM.
Love you all,
Josh
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