Tag Archives: Christ suffered

AN UNEXPECTED OUTCOME – 9a

Christian Life, ,

1 Peter 4:1-2 NLT‬
[1] “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. [2] You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.”

Here is a gem to ponder! Many have tried to explain the mystery of suffering. Why does God allow so much suffering when He is love? How can He be loving when innocent babies and children, for example, go through so much hardship that it warps their entire lives? Is God really in charge?

In this short meditation, I have no intention of explaining the mystery of suffering but rather pointing to one of suffering’s unexpected outcomes.

God hates pride. He resists the proud. Pride started the rot in the universe and on planet earth in particular. He acted decisively against a created spirit being who stood up against the Almighty.

‭Isaiah 14:12-14 NLT‬
[12] “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. [13] For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. [14] I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ “

‭Ezekiel 28:17 NLT‬
[17] “Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.”

Jesus constantly confronted pride in the Pharisees. He hated their arrogance which made them unteachable hypocrites.

‭Matthew 23:2-3, 5-7, 33 NLT‬
[2] “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses… [3] So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.
[5] “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. [6] And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. [7] They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’…
[33] Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?”

How does God deal with our pride?

Peter says that those who have suffered have done with sin. What does he mean? It seems to me, then, that God specifically allows people to suffer, even sets it up, to confront and deal with sin, the root of which is pride.

This may not work for unbelievers because they refuse to consider that God is good, or even exists, because they cannot understand His ways.

However, for the believer, suffering is one of God’s most effective tools for achieving His goal. However, before we examine His goal, let’s look at the core nature of a human, be they believer or unbeliever, to understand what suffering is and how it works to deal with sin.

Satan’s aim, in the garden of Eden, was to disconnect people from God. “You don’t need God,” he insinuated. “You can be God.” By sowing mistrust in the motive for God’s instructions (His pure and perfect Iove), he lured the first man into going it alone. Once Adam had embraced this notion, Satan had him in his clutches because he had now become man’s master. Pride became the core of man’s life.

‭Habakkuk 2:4 NIV‬
[4] “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright…”

By contrast, Jesus said that there is an attitude that gains God’s favour, one who lacks ‘wind’ or ‘breath’, ie, one who is not puffed up.

‭Matthew 5:3 NIV‬
[3] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The core philosophy that the devil had introduced is pride, i.e., that man is now like a balloon filled with helium, puffed up with ‘hot air’ that lifts him above God and people by luring him into thinking that he is in charge. So, humans in the main, reject God in favour of self and live to please and satisfy selfish desires.

Like Winnie-the-Pooh, we float around in the air, clutching our helium balloons. We believe that we are better than other people, that we can cope on our own and, in this or any situation, we don’t need God.

When God works in His own children, His first task is to bring the balloon down by emptying it of pride before He can begin the work of transforming us into the image of His Son. He must pop the balloon in an effective way.

His method of choice is suffering, but what kind of suffering? Peter said that Jesus suffered physically and, in that way, He dealt with sin.

That’s one form of suffering, but there is another form of suffering that gets to the core of who we are in Adam.

To be continued…

A WITNESS PAR EXCELLENCE – 8

Bible Study, ,

1 Peter 3:18, 22 NLT‬
[18] “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit….
[22] Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.”

We must be careful not to read Peter’s words as though he were quoting from a theological text book.

Peter had personal, firsthand experience of this man, Jesus. He was called to follow Him as a raw young Jew, possibly in his late teens or early twenties. How long did he live in the company of Jesus? Three years? Seven years years? Ten years? We don’t know but long enough to get to know something about Him.

In this unique relationship of “talmid” (disciple) and “rabbi”(teacher), Peter lived side by side with Jesus, walking, eating, sleeping, talking, living in His company for a long time. He could not help getting to know the man Jesus.

Of course, Jesus knew Peter. He could read him like a book. However, getting to know Jesus was a different matter. How can a human know and understand God, even in the flesh?

Peter must have puzzled, pondered, and thought deeply about this ‘mystery’ man who had chosen him to be a close associate. With his meagre education in the ‘torah’, he must have tried to understand Jesus in the light of Messianic prophecy. After all, it was Peter who boldly voiced his conviction that this rabbi was God’s Son.

‭Matthew 16:16 NLT‬
[16] “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

He might not have understood all the implications of this revelation then, but it was a good place to start. Only after Pentecost, when the full deluge of the Holy Spirit fell on him and his fellow disciples, did he understand Jesus enough to proclaim Him as Lord.

‭Acts of the Apostles 2:36 NLT‬
[36] “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

So, with great conviction, Peter could pen the words that summarise what he had seen with his eyes and heard with his ears, and which the Holy Spirit had had blown open with revelation and understanding.

What a powerful witness Peter was to what he had seen and heard. After years of gathering the evidence, it all made perfect sense. God’s Word came alive in this Person. Peter could preach and write the words of a witness par excellence with absolute conviction.

“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. (Peter was there, in person).

He never sinned, but… (Peter lived with Him for years).

… He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. (Peter was at the cross, watching Him die).

He suffered physical death,…

… but he was raised to life in the Spirit…. (Peter saw the empty tomb).

Now Christ has gone to heaven. (Peter was there when He went).

He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and…

… all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.”

With a skilful use of words, Peter summarised the life and death of one man who changed the world. Without Jesus, the whole earth and its human population is doomed but…

Jesus came into this earthly scene and changed everything for those who believe.

We may not have walked in Peter’s shoes alongside the man, Jesus, but we have experienced the miracle that His life, death, and resurrection have made possible. We have been forgiven, made alive, given a new nature, and filled with His Spirit. We are a new species, sons and daughters of God, being renewed in the image of Jesus and destined to share His glory in God’s eternal kingdom.

So, we too, are witnesses par excellence to this life into which God has catapulted us by His grace!

HOW DOES SUFFERING DEAL WITH SIN?

Bible Study, ,

HOW DOES SUFFERING DEAL WITH SIN? 

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. (1 Peter 4: 1-3)

Again Peter’s words are puzzling. If we take them at face value, we may come up with some strange doctrines. If we suffer, do we become our own saviour? We must once again read them in conjunction with the rest of Scripture to get his meaning.

First of all, what was the purpose of Christ’s suffering? Jesus suffered in His body – as a perfect, sinless human being because He had to be our substitute in every way. His suffering and death as God’s sacrificial lamb atoned for sin, took sin away and brought about cleansing of the heart and conscience for those who believe in Him. He suffered in obedience to the will of His Father, without retaliation or threats, entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

The theme of Peter’s letter is suffering, especially in the context of the cruel and unjust persecution of believers. How were they to respond to injustice? Peter’s message to them was – take it on the chin, just as Jesus did. Why should they? What good would it do them to be sitting ducks for every person who had it in for them for whatever reason? What benefit would it be to them?

Peter’s response: It’s about your attitude. Paul spoke about attitude as well. His words to the Philippian church were – have the same attitude as Jesus had (Phil. 2:5-9). He gave up all His rights as God to come to earth as a human being. He humbled Himself from being God to becoming a man, a slave and a condemned criminal. You can’t go any lower than that! Why did He do it? Because the Father required it of Him if He was to be the Saviour of the world.

Suffering for doing the right thing has a purging effect. Jesus said that persecution for His sake is a reason to rejoice, firstly because of our identity with Him and secondly because we are in good company (Matt. 5: 11, 12). The prophets of old suffered persecution and even death for proclaiming God’s word to His rebellious people. Persecution for Jesus’s sake sets people apart as belonging to Him. Who would be willing to lay down his life if he was not convinced of the truth?

One does not indulge in every form of wickedness and, at the same time, live in the conviction that Jesus is Lord. It just does not work that way. People are persecuted because their righteous lives are a threat to the wicked. Ungodly people hate godly people because godly lives show up the wickedness of the wicked. Their response is not to change but to get rid of the one whose good behaviour offends them. Religious people did that to Jesus and they will do it to anyone whose godly life offends them.

Peter’s counsel was: Don’t stop living a godly life because it gets you into trouble. Be like Jesus. He trusted His Father for justice and did God’s will anyway. If you take up that attitude, you won’t want to fulfil the evil desires that would pull you away from God. The people around you indulge every whim; they live to satisfy every lust, but your focus must be on doing God’s will. That’s the evidence of your true sonship.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2: 15-17)

To sum up then, the way Jesus lived and died is an example for us to follow. No matter what people did to Him, He trusted the Father and lived to do His will. His suffering did not destroy Him. On the contrary, it brought about our salvation. In the same way, if we suffer for our faith in Jesus, it will not destroy us. It will help to purge us from living sinful lives because we cannot experience persecution for our faith in Christ and live to satisfy our evil desires at the same time.

Our suffering does not take away our sin. Jesus’s suffering did that for us. However, it does take away our desire to sin because our hearts are set on living for Jesus and not for ourselves.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU

Bible Study, ,

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps. ‘He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23)

Slavery was an accepted part of life in those times. People were enslaved for many different reasons. Some had to sell themselves and their families when they fell on hard times. Others were enslaved through conquest. Many were the offspring of slaves who were sold off by slave owners, often as young children. There is no doubt that slavery brought terrible misery and suffering to a large part of the population. At least 40% of the Roman Empire at that time were slaves.

All slaves and their families were the property of their owners who could sell or rent them out at any time. Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated. Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment. http://www.crystalinks.com/romeslavery.html

Although Peter was particularly addressing the slave community in the church at this point, what he taught has relevance for all God’s people. What he wrote was revolutionary. Not only was he encouraging his readers to submit to cruel treatment without resisting, but he also explained that their suffering was not just circumstantial but a calling from God! How on earth could the kind of suffering they had to endure be a calling? Had Peter somehow lost the plot? No, he was quite serious about what he wrote.

The majority of people in the world are in the grip of their ungodly nature – living for self and making their own rules. In the background is the ‘god of this world’, using his subtle influence to cause as much misery and destruction as he can. Some people even acknowledge him and willingly participate in his plan while others inadvertently carry out his evil design through the worship of false gods and the wicked ways their beliefs spawn.

There is only one way to overcome evil in the world – not by retaliating because this only contributes to more evil. Jesus revealed the answer by the way He conducted Himself throughout the ordeal of His unjust arrest, trials and crucifixion. Before He faced the cross, He came to terms with what lay ahead of Him, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We know that a part of His mission was to be the sacrificial lamb for the sin of the world.  To be the perfect and unblemished lamb, He had to be sinless which meant far more than not committing the gross deeds we reckon as sin. To be without blemish meant that He had to be in perfect harmony with the Father in every aspect of His life – thoughts, attitudes, and motives, as well as words and actions. Everything He was and did was to reflect the Father’s nature – love and light.

Since it was the Father’s will that He die, He submitted not only to death but to the manner in which He would die, by the agony of the cross and all its implications. Day by day He submitted and obeyed the Father and in Gethsemane, where He fought His greatest inward battle, He overcame all the evil that His enemies could throw at Him by submitting to the Father’s will.

No matter what they did to Him, they could not break His will to obey the Father. He not only became our Saviour but also our example. By submitting to the worst His enemies could do to Him without resistance or retaliation, He absorbed all the evil in Himself and left them guilty and without excuse for what they had done.

‘Now,’ said Peter, ‘you do that as well.’ When we leave the judgment to the Father in the face of cruelty or injustice instead of trying to take it on our own shoulders, we know we will not have to suffer the consequences of our own sin. We also know that God will be perfectly just in the end.

Although we do not suffer the indignities of slavery, there are many occasions when we are at the receiving end of unscrupulous people, employers, lawyers, and people in places of authority. When, like Jesus, we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly, we put them to silence and bring them to shame and force them to be accountable for what they have done.

This is how the kingdom of God functions.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.