Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A Hopeful People

November 29, 2009

Background Scripture: 2 Peter 3:1 – 13
Lesson Passage: 2 Peter 3:1 – 13

“Don’t Lose Hope!” That was the topic of a sermon I heard preached by a Japanese clergyman in Tokyo more than fifteen years ago. I don’t remember all of the major points that he emphasized but I remember the topic vividly. The sermon was preached in the Japanese native tongue which I do not speak or comprehend. There was a young Japanese college student sitting next to me in the church service who gladly translated everything the preacher was saying for me. It was a very good message but it was the end of that sermon that was very dramatic for me. The preacher looked directly at me and he exclaimed in very good “English” diction, Don’t Lose Hope! For a moment I wondered if I had received the gift of interpretation of tongues so I asked the college student if that last statement was actually in English to which I received the reply that it was. That sermon is a very good message for all Christians. There are plenty of naysayers who would seek to discourage those who strive to live the Christian life. Then again, sometimes we may even question within ourselves, What if all of this is for nothing? Would I be satisfied with the life I have lived if I found out this is all there is to it? I thank God that those are questions that I don’t have to wrestle with or worry about. Peter’s assertion in our lesson today is that the word of God is sure. God’s word is so sure that all physical existence stands on it and is kept intact by it. Likewise, the word of God assures the fiery destruction of the physical world at the end when God will create a new Heaven and a new earth. Christians learn to look to God’s word for assurance. We don’t just depend on the word of God during our lifetimes but look even beyond the grave. What an awesome promise of God and expression of our faith that even death cannot dampen our hope. The more we learn of God the more we endeavor to walk closer to him and allow him to guide us in our daily living. Those who are not of the faith cannot possibly see or comprehend the facts that are brought forth by God’s word. They arrogantly declare Christians to be naïve even as they lean on the strength of their own ignorance. Our hope is not in what can be seen or explained by nature so the natural man cannot receive our message or understand it. God’s promises are spiritual and so too is the wisdom we receive from him. It is this wisdom that surpasses worldly understanding. We are people of hope because we are people of faith. Our day to day living continues to move more and more towards a certain future and is not constrained or restrained by a perishing world that is doomed for destruction. Our lives today should be governed by the certainty of the future that God has declared in his word. We are right in our position because we choose to believe God and trust him to deliver us to a promised future—even beyond the grave! We will encounter many naysayers on the Christian journey but we should always remember, “Don’t lose hope!”


Robert C. Hudson
November 18, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

A Faithful People

November 22, 2009

Background Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3 – 15
Lesson Passage: 2 Peter 1:3 – 15

Peter’s first letter encouraged Christians who were victimized by persecution from outside of the church family. He reminded them that they were partakers of Christ’s suffering whenever they were subjected to suffering because of their faith in Jesus. Peter’s second letter addresses a very different problem. Believers were being bombarded by false teachers who were seeking to lead them away from the faith. Time has shown that this problem was much more severe than the outward persecution in that it still persists today. In this letter, Peter declared a personal determination to fight against this evil for as long as he lived and to do all within his ability to leave a record of truth for believers to have even after his death. Such a statement expresses the severity of the problem faced by the apostles during the latter half of the first century. A half-truth is always more dangerous than a blatant lie. Once false teaching began to move throughout the Christian community, Satan no longer had to wage spiritual warfare by using external persecution. Even today we live in a time when persecution is not prevalent throughout the Christian community. In fact, it is nonexistent in many. The real warfare against the family of faith is internal false teaching. The Holy Ghost obviously revealed this to the apostles as they labored to lay the foundation of the Christian church and build upon it. This is evident in Peter’s letter as well as Jude’s letter, Paul’s second letter to Timothy, and John’s epistles. The common theme that runs through all of these letters is the admonition to Christians to stay with the original faith and teachings that were first delivered to them. The false teachers were instigating apostasy or backsliding by combining elements of the faith along with worldly wisdom that was not of God. Accepting Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior does not lead to a wonderful problem-free life in this world. Rather, it leads down the same road that Jesus traveled. Jesus beckoned those that would to take up their cross and follow him. He did not invite men to accept a new status as his servant and then go and live according to the world standards. The world hated Jesus and reacts the same way towards his followers. Yet, we can still live victorious lives by following Christ’s examples. Our character should be a reflection of the Spirit of God living in us. This is an outgrowth that comes from increasing our faith by growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t add Christianity to what we are. We accept the character of Christ and we die out to the old person who by nature is corrupt and at enmity with God. False teachers found this too unpalatable and therefore sought to water down the message of the gospel. We continue in our old sins when we refuse to see the new life that Christ has made available to us. Peter further admonishes believers to walk victoriously through the knowledge of their election and calling. Peter’s last letter is an appeal to Christians to be faithful people.

Robert C. Hudson
November 12, 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

A Suffering People

November 15, 2009

Background Scripture: 1 Peter 4
Lesson Passage: 1 Peter 4:12 – 19

I don’t know of anyone or any particular group that goes through life without suffering occasionally. Even the wealthy that are so often envied as though they are problem free have their share of problems. We live in a fallen world that is under constant demonic attack and influence. It is this wrestle with spiritual wickedness that tends to bring suffering to many. Some are directly involved and others are just part of the collateral damage in this spiritual warfare. We learn much about human suffering from studying the book of Job. Although Job and his friends viewed Job’s suffering much like many view human suffering today, we see in the scriptures that there was another reality occurring at the same time in the spiritual realm. The forces of evil were roaming the earth seeking to wreak havoc against humanity. The good news in all of it is that those who belong to God are protected by God and only suffer what God allows. The mystery was that Job was an upright or good person who hated and avoided evil but yet he was attacked and made to suffer by Satan. In other words, Job’s suffering was in spite of his righteous living. Again, the good news is that he only suffered what God allowed and afterwards God restored what Job loss.

Today’s lesson brings us again to the discussion of the suffering of the righteous. Peter reminds the reader that Christians are stewards of God’s grace. Non-Christians are introduced to the grace of God through the preaching of the gospel by Christians. Part of our stewardship responsibility is to work to bring the grace of God to those who are lost. This must first begin with how we treat each other. We are admonished to be hospitable and loving with the right attitude towards each other. If we can’t treat other Christians with love what hope is there for the lost? Everything that we do should be to God’s glory. Our service, or ministry, and speaking should all be to God’s glory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s really not about us. In the midst of our service, we will sometimes be confronted with trials and suffering. Being on the Lord’s team does not exempt us from suffering; rather, it moves us to the front of the line or to the top of Satan’s wish list. Trials are a part of Christianity. We suffer because Christ suffered as our substitute and as our example. On the other hand, we should be sure that our suffering is because of Christ in us not because of ungodly behavior on our part which will also bring suffering as well as chastisement. There is still a mystery in it all that has not yet been made clear to us: God is glorified through Christian suffering. How our suffering for Christ’s sake brings glory to God is not altogether clear. Comparatively speaking, however, Christian suffering is to be preferred above any other kind of suffering. Christian suffering is a joy when compared with the suffering that the lost will endure. The lost will suffer without mercy. There is no one to limit satanic attacks against the lost. But throughout Christian suffering, we should be reminded that it is God who keeps our souls and therefore we are assured that suffering in this life is temporary but our salvation is eternal.

Robert C. Hudson
November 9, 2009

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

A Chosen People

November 8, 2009

Background Scripture: 1 Peter 2:1 – 17
Lesson Passage: 1 Peter 2:1 – 10

“YOU MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER!” For years that line has greeted millions on the Publishers’ Clearinghouse magazine subscription mail outs. Of course this was followed up by television images of Ed McMahon and a live camera crew ringing some unsuspecting person’s doorbell while holding a larger-than-life-size check worth millions of dollars. All of this advertisement promised that each year some lucky person would be made an instant millionaire simply because they returned a survey card—whether they ordered magazines or not. The fine print gave some astronomically large numbers indicating how remote the chance is that any particular person would actually be selected by the people with the excess cash. Why did Publishers’ Clearinghouse do it? Because the amount of money received from people subscribing to the magazines in the hope of becoming millionaires greatly exceeded the amount of money that was given out. It was a very clever advertising scheme that created a frenzy of activity for their product by dangling a carrot in front of the subscribers. There are many downsides to this but perhaps none as detrimental as the mistrust it engendered in many who learned to always be skeptical of “too good to be true” offers and to look for the fine print or hidden “gotcha’s”. Although this was all about business, it still carried over into the social and spiritual life of many. So when Peter reminded Christians of the first century that they were a chosen people to receive manifold blessings from God, his words may fall on skeptical ears of Christians living in the twenty first century. We are three and a half generations deep when it comes to those that have been impacted heavily by television and mass marketing schemes. In spite of our skepticism, God’s word still declares that Christians are a chosen generation of people who are a peculiar or precious treasure to him. We did not do anything to deserve it and indeed we could not have done anything to deserve it when we consider that the selection (or election) was done before God formed the world we now live in! How challenging it is to live up to this amazing calling when we wrestle with the skepticism that now seems to be an integral part of our being. Even more amazing is that we are told to abstain from our ungodly desires and live an honest lifestyle. One would think that those activities would have automatically disqualified us from being part of the chosen in the first place. The skepticism continues to build. This will continue until we individually submit ourselves to God and place all of our trust in his word. We are admonished to accept what God has already done and live lives that reflect our gratitude and understanding of who we are in Christ. There is no fine print to this but there is a lot at stake. If we abandon our selfish ways and begin the process of ever-increasing dependence on God, we will begin to experience a life that we could never have known before. This is the life that God calls us to as we allow the word of God and the Holy Ghost to have free course in renewing our minds and directing our actions. WE ARE ALREADY WINNERS! There is no lottery involved in this process. God has chosen us in Christ Jesus to do good works. We can do so only when we accept that Christians are a chosen people.

Robert C. Hudson
October 30, 2009