CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS

1 Peter 5

Christianity is life, abundant life. And life is about relationships. So Christianity is about relationships. Things like love one another and love your neighbor. When we looked at the “household code,” especially the one in Ephesians, we discovered that every member of the family and its associates (servants) had a part to play. All came under the rubric, “submit yourselves one to another.”

As we end Peter’s first letter, we find challenges to the church very much like the challenges to the family. Here he challenges first the elders or shepherds, then the young men, and finally everyone. Each member of the church has a role to play. As the Spirit has given us gifts, we are to discover, develop, and deploy them to build up one another and so the body of Christ.

Remember Peter comes from the Jewish background of synagogues, which are loose organizational structures led by a teacher or rabbi. This is the form in which he is thinking about the local congregations, many of which are still meeting in someone’s house. He challenges the leaders first, calling them elders and shepherds. Then he turns to the younger generation, leaders in training, and finally includes everyone. The most important takeaway is that everyone has a role and that the fellowship of the congregation is an important doctrine.

He begins with the leaders. He first calls them elders, presbuterous in the Greek from which we get our word Presbyterian. Peter is an apostle, but he chooses first to cast his lot alongside them. He too had been an elder in the church in Jerusalem, so he is only asking them to do what he himself had done. A good leadership principle is to do exactly that, thereby teaching by example.

He also calls himself a witness of Jesus’s death and has since shared through persecution – he may be in prison at this point – Christ’s passion. He takes joy in the fact that enduring suffering in His name insures glory when He is revealed as the coming King!

The elder, or leader, should be a shepherd, taking care of, feeding, and guiding the flock. He should do this cheerfully because it brings him joy, not for money or even from compulsion. We today would say the shepherd should feel called by God to the task. He is not to lead as a boss, coming from his authority, but walking beside them as an example. When Christ returns the pastor will receive his visible reward. (Yet do we need a reward? I find that service of Christ and people is its own reward.)

In my experience much of church conflict comes from tension between the old and the young. The old seem set in their ways and resist change. They may also become territorial and not give way to things the younger men, as Peter calls them, may want to try. Now the apostle warns these younger men to learn to be followers so they later may become a leader. Submission extends to them.

Indeed, Peter turns to them all and challenges them to stand humbly with each other, as each is part of the team, not the entire team!

Verse 7b should be familiar to all: Cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you. Reminds me of Philippians 4:6 that says not to worry about anything, but pray about everything. I like the alto moving against the soprano melody in the old gospel song, “Leave It There.” We often, I fear, lug our sack of troubles and dump the before the Lord, as if to say, “There! That’s a load.” Then we turn around, harness up the bag again, and stagger off! LEAVE THEM THERE!

Do you believe in the devil? Peter certainly did. I’ve seen people nervous when snakes or bears have been seen loose in the area, and for good reason. We need to be just as alert against the devil, who is more dangerous than a loose tiger. The tiger may or may not bother someone. The devil is definitely going to bother everyone! In the churches that receive this letter, one way the devil was after them was through persecution. He reminded them that many Christians were also suffering, and that Jesus was the leading sufferer in their cause. I frequently hear Christians today warning that persecution is coming to our country. I respectfully disagree, at least for a long time. I’m a news junkie and get several news feeds during the day. Just today I saw an interview with two Iraqi women who had been captured by ISIS and used as sex slaves and otherwise abused before they escaped. I also read of 17 men executed by the fanatics in Mosul. That’s persecution, and we need to pray for those plunged into that situation.

Verses 10-11 are a doxology, praising God. How often during the day do you praise Him?

He finishes off by noting that Silvanus, aka Silas, was his amanuensis, or scribe, to write down the letter. And he sends greeting to the others from Christians in Babylon, aka Rome, and his “son” Mark. That association with Mark, btw, may have led to Mark’s writing his gospel including Peter’s reminiscences.

Oh – don’t get excited over the holy kiss bit. Shaking hands or hugs are the modern equivalent.

SUFFERING OR WITNESSING?

1 Peter 4:12-19

Have you ever played the mental game or even had a class discussion about what you would do if persecuted. Often classes do discuss whether they would bow the knee to a foreign god rather than being killed. After all, it’s established in law that compulsion is a defense against all sorts of things!

The early church had this discussion after persecution had passed. Some who had held firm, been arrested, perhaps tortured, lost jobs, and seen relatives killed thought those who had compromised should be booted out of the church. Others thought they should have been forgiven, perhaps after doing penance. Passages like this one in Peter played a part.

We often hear fears nowadays of the government taking our freedom of worship away from us. The intrusions we feel and the persecutions we think some of us undergo are nothing compared to the rest of the world. Get and read “The Insanity of God,” which I understand will be out soon in a movie, in which a SBC missionary goes incognito into various countries to explore their situations. He begins with Sudan and includes China and several other countries. In these lands people are regularly arrested, jailed, sometimes tortured, and occasionally killed just for being Christian. We’ve read in the papers and seen on TV the radical Islam approaches to beheading Christians. There is more persecution of our faith in the world today than ever before. AND THOSE CHURCHES ARE THRIVING! The author above, writing anonymously because he planned to go back, said Chinese Christians estimated between 10 and 100 MILLION Chinese Christians. Apparently the government doesn’t worry about churches smaller than 30. So when they approach that number, they start a new congregation. Further, after a pastor has his first arrest and usually short jail term, his authority and respect are enhanced, and he is far more influential.

In 4:12 Peter warns and comforts about persecution. “Don’t worry about the persecution that’s about to hit. It will be par for the course, so get used to it. Christ suffered, so we can expect to suffer also and even rejoice in it. (Was Peter in jail like Paul in Rome when he wrote this, or in hiding? Tradition says he was killed in Rome in the 60’s.) He reminds me here of the opening of the Book of James, where that man insanely says, “Throw a party when troubles come!” Well, if you’re holy and picky, you’ll translate is something like “Rejoice when you are tempted and/or tried, knowing that it all works out to strengthen you.” I like my translation better…

When Christ returns in glory, both he and you will be triumphant. So keep your eye on our victory, not the present trouble. In fact, if someone insults you for being a Christian, be happy that they could see the presence of His Spirit shining through you.  Make sure if you suffer, it’s for your faith and not because you’re a crook! If you’re jailed or derided or whatever, it’s no disgrace, nor anything to be ashamed of, but wear it as a badge of honor!

Beginning with v 17, Peter challenges the church. “Judgement begins with God’s own household!” We often condemn the world but the world knows no better, Christians do. We are held accountable. God holds us responsible. To whom much is given much is required.

But the world doesn’t escape. The reasoning goes on that if God judges even His own people, how much more will judgment fall on those rejecting the gospel? “How much more” is the argument a fortiori, from force. If I hurt myself tripping on a root, how much more if I fell off the house! So transform your suffering into an opportunity to witness and serve, and God will reward you.

PRACTICAL LIVING

1 Peter 4:1-11

Scholars like to call this “praxis” related to the word practical. It’s Christian applied ethics, answering the question “So what?” to the theology. One Christian educator I respect says the NT is usually half theory and half praxis. He tested it on the book of Romans, considered difficult theologically, and concluded that even there, half the book was practical application.

The Lifeway quarterly builds this lesson on verse 7 which says “The end of all things is at hand.” A couple of weeks ago in my discussion of basic interpretation skills I mentioned the “interim ethic,” the teaching of behavior in light of their expected soon return of Christ. For example, where Paul discourages marriage if you can control your sexual drive, he might not have done so had he known the Lord would not return in the next hundred years. Here Peter uses it as a motivation for Christian behavior. When I was a kid, preachers often preached a question, “How would you feel if Christ came back while you were engaged in that activity?”

The quarterly goes on to make an excellent point of four things we should do in light of the end of all things: prayer, love, hospitality, and service through exercising gifts.

Now let’s back up to the beginning of the chapter. Apparently, some of the Christians in their churches had suffered for Christ. Peter says those have done with sin. My interpretation of that is that if they have been identified as believers and did not recant under persecution, their lives obviously now were totally dedicated to the Lord.

Another motivation is the change the Spirit has made in their lives. Notice their previous behavior. Many of these people were radically transformed. I’ve mentioned before that a Methodist friend once came asking how to find prospects, because they had a layman evangelist coming. They were panicking because they had heard if they didn’t have enough prospects, he’d wander into the bars and poolrooms to witness! Our seminary in New Orleans at least once had a soul winning course where they dropped men off at French Quarter bars and made them enter for at least an hour. Yet few of us have the courage to do that – I haven’t, tho I know a few converted from that life who have not hesitated to do witnessing in that area. “The Chaplain of Bourbon Street” developed a ministry to the denizens of the Quarter and found them very human indeed.

Peter thought the change in their lives had became an unanswerable testimony to those who knew them in a previous life. I remember when my father was first elected DA, we were celebrating in a restaurant. He was drinking tomato juice, and some of his crew were teasing him for not imbibing something harder. He just smiled and shook his head. Around that time he was president of the Louisiana state Baptist Brotherhood organization and was careful of his witness. I remember the Cajun guy at Boys’ State telling me, “You have something I don’t have. I don’t know what it is…better education maybe.” The Spirit threw open the door, and to my shame, I didn’t tell him what it was. Those opportunities don’t come often, and it’s important to grab them when they do.

The gospel preached to the dead – I have no clue. I’ve read all sorts of explanations, but found nothing that satisfies me. The best guess I have is that Jesus proclaimed the gospel to the dead to explain why they ended up where they did. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Now notice the four practical actions in verses 7 and following (7ff). Prayer is fundamental. Since my heart attack 13 years ago, I have exercised regularly almost every week. Medical authorities say this helps avoid circulation problems and many others. Prayer holds that place in our spiritual lives. If you don’t include a time of prayer in your daily routine, begin NOW.

Love is the key Christian quality. Paul lists it first in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. It’s especially important in church and among believers. Indeed, there’s a famous quote by a pagan author, “Behold how these Christians love one another.” How does love cover or erase a multitude of sins? Several possible answers have been given, but my favorite is simply by forgiveness. We receive our forgiveness from God’s love, and we offer it the same way.

Be hospitable to each other without complaining. I have a friend who kept 40 Hispanic refugees in his home after Katrina. He didn’t speak Spanish, and they spoke little English. How’s that for hospitality. Missionaries and others who have lived in the Middle East have emphasized that hospitality is a fundamental virtue there. Possible because the cultures arose out of the desert, and travelers would die if they couldn’t receive food and water at intervals, this compassion arose from necessity. In Israel it was a command from God that continued in the NT.

Service through gifts. The classic teaching passages are Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. In short, God has given each Christian at least one gift, of the Spirit’s choice. They can be compared to the parts of the body in that each has its own function in the church as the body of Christ. The best way to live the Christian life is to discover your gift or gifts, develop them, and employ them as part of the church. He gave them to be used and to contribute to the health of the church. One reason, worshipping Christ on the fishing bank is not sufficient. A believer is called to live life in community, giving and receiving as part of that fellowship. So how involved are you?

Who did you help last week? Who will you help this week?

PRACTICAL LIVING

1 Peter 4:1-11

Scholars like to call this “praxis” related to the word practical. It’s Christian applied ethics, answering the question “So what?” to the theology. One Christian educator I respect says the NT is usually half theory and half praxis. He tested it on the book of Romans, considered difficult theologically, and concluded that even there, half the book was practical application.

The Lifeway quarterly builds this lesson on verse 7 which says “The end of all things is at hand.” A couple of weeks ago in my discussion of basic interpretation skills I mentioned the “interim ethic,” the teaching of behavior in light of their expected soon return of Christ. For example, where Paul discourages marriage if you can control your sexual drive, he might not have done so had he known the Lord would not return in the next hundred years. Here Peter uses it as a motivation for Christian behavior. When I was a kid, preachers often preached a question, “How would you feel if Christ came back while you were engaged in that activity?”

The quarterly goes on to make an excellent point of four things we should do in light of the end of all things: prayer, love, hospitality, and service through exercising gifts.

Now let’s back up to the beginning of the chapter. Apparently, some of the Christians in their churches had suffered for Christ. Peter says those have done with sin. My interpretation of that is that if they have been identified as believers and did not recant under persecution, their lives obviously now were totally dedicated to the Lord.

Another motivation is the change the Spirit has made in their lives. Notice their previous behavior. Many of these people were radically transformed. I’ve mentioned before that a Methodist friend once came asking how to find prospects, because they had a layman evangelist coming. They were panicking because they had heard if they didn’t have enough prospects, he’d wander into the bars and poolrooms to witness! Our seminary in New Orleans at least once had a soul winning course where they dropped men off at French Quarter bars and made them enter for at least an hour. Yet few of us have the courage to do that – I haven’t, tho I know a few converted from that life who have not hesitated to do witnessing in that area. “The Chaplain of Bourbon Street” developed a ministry to the denizens of the Quarter and found them very human indeed.

Peter thought the change in their lives had became an unanswerable testimony to those who knew them in a previous life. I remember when my father was first elected DA, we were celebrating in a restaurant. He was drinking tomato juice, and some of his crew were teasing him for not imbibing something harder. He just smiled and shook his head. Around that time he was president of the Louisiana state Baptist Brotherhood organization and was careful of his witness. I remember the Cajun guy at Boys’ State telling me, “You have something I don’t have. I don’t know what it is…better education maybe.” The Spirit threw open the door, and to my shame, I didn’t tell him what it was. Those opportunities don’t come often, and it’s important to grab them when they do.

The gospel preached to the dead – I have no clue. I’ve read all sorts of explanations, but found nothing that satisfies me. The best guess I have is that Jesus proclaimed the gospel to the dead to explain why they ended up where they did. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Now notice the four practical actions in verses 7 and following (7ff). Prayer is fundamental. Since my heart attack 13 years ago, I have exercised regularly almost every week. Medical authorities say this helps avoid circulation problems and many others. Prayer holds that place in our spiritual lives. If you don’t include a time of prayer in your daily routine, begin NOW.

Love is the key Christian quality. Paul lists it first in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. It’s especially important in church and among believers. Indeed, there’s a famous quote by a pagan author, “Behold how these Christians love one another.” How does love cover or erase a multitude of sins? Several possible answers have been given, but my favorite is simply by forgiveness. We receive our forgiveness from God’s love, and we offer it the same way.

Be hospitable to each other without complaining. I have a friend who kept 40 Hispanic refugees in his home after Katrina. He didn’t speak Spanish, and they spoke little English. How’s that for hospitality. Missionaries and others who have lived in the Middle East have emphasized that hospitality is a fundamental virtue there. Possible because the cultures arose out of the desert, and travelers would die if they couldn’t receive food and water at intervals, this compassion arose from necessity. In Israel it was a command from God that continued in the NT.

Service through gifts. The classic teaching passages are Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. In short, God has given each Christian at least one gift, of the Spirit’s choice. They can be compared to the parts of the body in that each has its own function in the church as the body of Christ. The best way to live the Christian life is to discover your gift or gifts, develop them, and employ them as part of the church. He gave them to be used and to contribute to the health of the church. One reason, worshipping Christ on the fishing bank is not sufficient. A believer is called to live life in community, giving and receiving as part of that fellowship. So how involved are you?

Who did you help last week? Who will you help this week?