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

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