To Fall From Grace ...

The second letter from Peter to the Church does not target a particular region, or area.  It is a general letter intended for as wide a distribution as possible.  The contents of this letter were so important to Peter he feels compelled to write it, and is purposeful about not addressing to a particular city, region, or area, so that any reader will believe and understand it is intended for them.  In this way, Peter leaves us a legacy where what he and his compatriots penned nearly 2000 years ago stands as intended just for me, and just for you.  The tone of this letter is not meant to dishearten the early church, but there is no mistake that this letter carries a warning to those who have heard the gospel and accepted it.  The Revelations of John outline a steady degradation within the church, a steady decline from a state of purity, until it is so corrupted it is hardly distinguishable from death itself.  This is not a transition to be taken lightly.  And whether in concert with John, or merely through independent observation, Peter has begun to see the decline and wants to put a stop to it before it becomes worse.

The war between good and evil has changed.  The old church, that is the faith introduced by Abraham and passed down through the bloodlines and traditions of the Jewish people, is no longer the chief threat to the existence of evil in the world.  The coming of the Messiah has introduced a new threat, a much greater threat to Satan than any he has faced before.  Whereas the Jewish people tended to isolate themselves from the nations around them, and kept the process of salvation largely internal; the early Christian church had a completely opposite response.  The early Christian church was spreading across borders, nations, races, and cultures like a wild fire that will not be stopped.  Pagan resistance was futile at best, when competing with the truth and power of the gospel of salvation from the slavery of self.  The traditional Jewish faith, rich in culture and scripture, lacked the love for others the Christians through the power of Christ, had brought to the table.  In fact, there was some early confusion about whether the early Christian church was significantly different than the traditional Jewish faith, as both held to the same set of scriptural writings, general ideas about Sabbath rest, and importance of living righteously.

But the Jewish faith, through its rejection of the cornerstone, had lost its connection to the source of Love, and in so doing represented only a set of traditions and ideology without a real transformative power to literally change the lives of its subscribers.  Satan no longer needed to focus his energies on those of the Jewish faith, unless only to enlist them to his cause of stamping out the Christian heresy that was polluting their ancient systems and power structures.  But now, Satan would have to combat Christianity with new methods.  He could not meet it head on with lies for it would be easy to detect them.  But to raise up a counter insurgency, to cause followers of Christ to begin to alter their goals and ideas from within the church, might lead to its downfall.  At a minimum he might begin to see the church come to deny its own link to the transformative power of Love, and lose its ability to impact the world around it.  That in itself would be his “win”.  To make the church of no effect, at least keeps it from growing and leaves him able to “contain” the problem.

And as you look around the church today, no matter what the denomination you ascribe to, you find the war leaning on the side of Satan’s tactics.  There is no singular Christian denomination today who carries the universal power of transformative love with it into the world.  Like our spiritual forefathers, the Jewish Pharisees, we have a rich tradition of scriptural interpretation and practices, and a minimal understanding of what it truly means to love others more than ourselves.  In today’s churches we preach “balance”.  We teach “give and take”.  We do not aspire to give ALL of ourselves, merely “more” of ourselves.  We continue to espouse the value of “good works” but have denied ourselves the transformation of heart that would make “good works” a natural part of who we are.  Instead we erect barriers between ourselves and other Christians who are less enlightened doctrinally than we.  And we tend to universally lean on forgiveness for our misdeeds (which are many), than on reform of heart that would lead us away from committing them in the first place.

This situation did not begin with us, it is merely reached an unprecedented level of success with us.  Peter was around when the war was still in its infancy within the church.  And what he saw in the trends of the people inspired him to write this second letter.  He opens in verse one greeting as follows: … “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: [verse 2] Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,”  His greeting is short and to the point.  He identified who he is, Simon Peter.  His role, an Apostle of Jesus Christ in this instance.  For the purposes of what he will write, he wants his readers to know he was an eyewitness to the power of Jesus to transform lives; his own life was one story of total transformation.  Then he identifies his intended readers, “to them that have obtained like precious faith”.  Peter does not care about “how” a person comes to believe in following Jesus, only that they have come to that place.

In our modern versions of Christianity, we commonly ask believers to be re-baptized as they move from one denomination to another, seemingly to imply their understanding of the “truth” was not as good in the last place they worshipped.  But in common thinking, or common deception, we have come to regard “truth” as the interpretation of doctrine, instead of “The Truth” that is ONLY found in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and a personal encounter with Him.  So in our pride and in our arrogance, we cast dispersions on “how” a person comes to Christ, if it is not up to our high standards about the methods “we” employ.  An un-repentant sex-drugs-&-rock-n-roll youth, who attends a “rock” concert only to discover the singers have found Christ, and through their music and personal testimony, they witness about what Christ can do for you; can find conversion in this place.  So a former slave of Satan is brought to Jesus at what we ridicule as a hard rock concert, and we “discount” his having obtained a like and precious faith, because it happened at a venue we do not support.  It is we who are in error.  The new convert is the one standing on holy ground with his Truth, and his Lord.

Next Peter explains why casting dispersions on “how” a person comes to know Jesus Christ is utterly wrong to do.  For he then explains how ALL of us find this faith … “THROUGH the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.  We do not “find” our faith because we stumble across it by accident.  We do not “find” our faith because we were worthy, or searching, or could somehow “earn” its discovery.  In point of fact, our faith is a “gift” of the righteousness of our God, not us.  It is something He gives us because He is worthy, not because we are.  So to cast dispersions or ridicule on “how” someone finds Christ, is to insult the Author of ALL faith.

Lastly Peter summarizes his entire second letter in a singular statement about what the goal of the pure Christian church is … “Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you” … and how will this occur? … “through the knowledge of God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.  The knowledge to which Peter refers, is not a thorough reading of every text recorded in the Bible.  He is not discounting the value of reading and studying scripture, but without a personal application as led by Jesus Christ Himself, in your life; the reading can lead you to a false sense of Pharisaical superiority that does not truly love others.  The knowledge of God and of Christ can be most keenly experienced as we learn to love others like our God loves others.  This experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ and of God, is what Peter points his readers to.  It is “how” both Grace and Peace will be multiplied among them.

Peter then quickly gets in to the meat of his letter, as the urgency of its themes are overwhelming him, he continues in verse 3 … “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”  We are not saved by our deeds, our intentions, or the strength of our characters; we are saved by “His divine power”.  It is NOT a partnership where we bring to the table some of our excellent character traits and then add them to what Jesus brings, or makes up for in us.  Instead His divine power has given unto us “ALL things that pertain unto Life and Godliness”.  We bring nothing but our own brokenness.  Jesus Christ brings everything we will ever need or want with Him, to put in us.  As we come to “know” Jesus through the transformative power of His love, we find we are transformed ourselves into His image of glory (serving others) and virtue (a desire away from our natural state of sin).  Our part is to submit ourselves to Him, rather than continue to believe “we” can “help” with our own salvation.  He does it all for us and in us, all we do, is let Him.

Peter continues in verse 4 … “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  Here it is folks, we are given “exceeding great” and “precious” promises.  What salvation brings into the transformed life is not inconsequential, it is life altering.  The power of the gospel is not muted in the person who truly experiences a freedom from former sin.  Peter knows how much joy having Jesus break the chains of sin in his own life can be, and he values that promise as it was intended.  For the results he outlines are stark in that we “might be partakers of the divine nature”.  Think about that one for a second; you and I might be partakers of the “divine” nature of our God.  This does not mean we become God, or some smaller/lessor version of our God, but instead that we become “like” our God in how we love others.  We can be so transformed by the Love of Christ, that we love like He loves.  In so doing we become partakers of His divine nature. 

Then as if we needed the contrast, Peter outlines what the opposite of a divine nature is and in fact what we have been made free from, escaping … “the corruption that is in the world through lust”.  Corruption is not an end-state, it is rather a degenerative condition.  Corruption does not reach some lower boundary and just stop, it keeps falling, lower and lower, no matter how bad we think we are.  Corruption is fed by lust.  We want!  We must have!  We need!  We crave the things we are enslaved to, like a hard core heroin addict craves his next fix.  Oh sure, there are those who have never even tried an illegal drug, but they are every bit as enslaved to their next sexual conquest, or their next rung on the corporate ladder of success, or making their next million or billion dollars.  There are those who crave success for their children in academics, or sports, or any other level of achievement – living vicariously through the success of their children or families.  Lust has no specific venue for expression.  It can mask as greed, or desire, or envy.  Its only chief characteristic is that it feeds our “ego”.  It is formed in the basis of “self” thinking, and the needs of “others” are always secondary to the needs of “me”.  It is from this addiction, that we are to be made free by the power of Christ, and as His gift to us.

Peter then describes the life cycle of salvation in his own experience.  He lists a series of characteristics about himself that the transforming power of Christ has brought, and he encourages us, his readers, to allow Christ to do the same in our lives as he continues in verse 5 … “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [verse 6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [verse 7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”  For us to give all diligence is for us not to become weary in surrendering to Jesus Christ every-day.  The evil of self must be brought low daily to the transformation Christ offers.  This is not a “one and done” decision or action.  Next from the faith God gives to us, He adds virtue, in the transforming of who we are.  With the virtue of loving others, He adds knowledge about the true meaning of His word, separating His Truth from the teachings and traditions of men who vainly attempt to interpret scripture.  To knowledge, He adds temperance.  So often we come to believe we “know it all” or have “seen it all”.  Temperance teaches us to think moderately, to leave open the idea that there will forever be more to discover and find, whether that be the Truth of Jesus Christ, or the joy Jesus brings to our lives. 

To temperance, He adds patience.  How often have we longed for the process of perfection to be done in an instant?  But we are not ready for an instant transformation, if it happened to us we would in all likelihood, throw it away.  We need time to learn to trust completely.  We need to see God build His character in us steadfastly over time, past our failures, and learn that we can rely only on Him.  “We” cannot be trusted, but “He” never fails.  This takes time for our stubborn minds to grasp, accept, and come to believe in with unshaken trust.  To patience, He adds godliness.  As we learn to trust Him more, we submit more of ourselves to Him, and the transition from self-centered to loving-others makes us appear more and more like a reflection of Jesus Christ.  To godliness, He adds brotherly kindness.  It is easier to love our family than to love others in general.  God allows us to experience the object of loving others with those closest to us first.  Then He adds to our brotherly kindness, charity in general, or the ability to love even total strangers with as much care as we do our own family. 

This life cycle outlines a path of living the salvation experience.  It is an uplifting path that leads us up to Christ.  We do not forsake the loving of others, or engagement with others along the way, as isolation is not our goal.  But in moving upwards to Christ our love for others draws their interest and attention along the way, and can inspire in them a desire to know more for themselves.  This is how the saved bear fruit.  Peter continues in verse 8 … “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  These character traits are revelations of Jesus Christ and His work within us.  They are NOT evidence of our own righteousness, but of His righteousness working its will within us.  Our fruit, that is our results, are the results of His transformative love in our lives.  We do not remain bound in sin forever, but instead are made free from sin’s grasp by His power.

Then comes Peter’s first ominous warning in verse 9 … “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”  Peter is not talking to those who have never known the Truth of Jesus Christ in this passage, but rather to those who have tasted of this freedom.  Those who have halted, or stunted the process of salvation, by refusing to submit some part of themselves to Christ to be remade; have in so doing, introduced a spiritual cancer that is destined to metastasize within them.  The lack of characteristics defined above in living the salvation experience reflect a spiritual blindness in the part of the believer.  Without true transformation, we are unable to see His Truth.  And we come to forget His victories over sin within us, turning back to the lusts we were once made free from.  We come to forget we were at one time purged of our old lusts and sins, and instead re-embrace them once again.  Thus the potential to fall from grace has been introduced.

This section of Peter’s warning concludes as he writes in verse 10 … “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: [verse 11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”  Peter reminds us that rather than allow ourselves to fall from Grace, we must remain diligent in surrendering our will to Jesus Christ.  It is the insertion of “self” into the process of salvation that leads to corrupt it.  It is the absence of “self” and a complete trust in Jesus Christ to save that will keep us pure and upon His path.  The arrogance of one faith to assert its value over that of another leads us to rely on our own scriptural interpretations rather than in humility to be led by Jesus Christ to the Truth of Him that we need, when we need it.  All of what Peter asks us to experience above is a result of transformative power, not of scriptural study.  Peter is asking us to make the gospel come alive by submitting to Jesus to be transformed from who we were, into who He intends us to be.  We are to make the pages of the Bible come alive in us, by being transformed by His love.  A cold dissection of words in His Book, is not the same as a warm reflection of His love directly into the life of another.

If we are to minister in His kingdom, we must learn to reflect His love to any we come in contact with.  Love is the basis of the power of the gospel.  When we deny love, we deny Christ.  When we reserve and hold our love back, we deny Christ the access to remake who we are.  If we are to keep our calling sure, and the process of being made elect sure, we must let His love flow freely through us.  The world does not need another condemnation of its evil.  It needs an alternative from evil.  It needs a solution for evil.  It needs the love of Jesus Christ to made alive in it, through His walking talking and loving servants spread across its lands.  The war with evil will not be won through condemnation, but through real reform.  Hate cannot defeat hate, only spread it.  It does us no good to hate “evil” men, for we ourselves were once under the grasp of evil.  We should instead meet the most heinous evil with the most tender love.  We should instead look for ways to make the lives our worst enemies, the best we could find to offer for their happiness.   Evil is melted by the power of love.  Evil grows when it is met with its own kind.  Hate for hate, death for death, only makes both grow in scope.  Meeting it with love, causes it to turn away.

The everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ, is composed of those who understand “they” must die, and He must be reborn in them.  Peter was intent that his fellow believers do not fall from grace.  More counsel to avoid this fate, was to follow …

 

A Better Man ...

Can you tell a Christian by looking at them?  How about after spending some time in conversation, does a Christian begin to be revealed clearly?  Perhaps after getting to know someone, after they are a friend, after you have shared common experience – is it plain to you whether they are a Christian?  Christians bleed, get old or sick, and they die.  Christians make mistakes.  So if the difference between a Christian and just a regular “good guy” does not present a clear difference – why be a Christian?  Some would argue that the key difference is that the Christian is forgiven for his mistakes, the regular “good guy” does not believe he needs forgiveness (or perhaps he lives in a state of perpetual forgiveness).  The past of a Christian is wiped clean.  No matter what a Christian may have done he is accepted by God.

Some would argue that the Christian has hope that in the next life, he will no longer get old or sick, no longer die.  His life then will be eternal – this is all the hope of some Christians.  Christians like the idea that in the next life, sickness will be a thing of the past.  They will walk on golden streets, play with formerly fierce beasts, make music on harps, and generally enjoy a “cushy” life where joy is all there is.  But in their hearts, the Christian believes he will be the same person in heaven, he was here on earth.  The only real difference is the perfections enacted in his body.  The bad vision will be gone.  The overweight condition will be a thing of the past.  He will be strong, and physically perfect from head to toe, a full head of hair without the need for coloring it from age.  He will be perpetually in his perfect state, and perfect age.  And in this he will perfectly mimic the condition of Lucifer before the fall, and if this line of thinking is all there is – history would repeat itself.

The problem with most Christians is that they understand well the beginning of their story founded in forgiveness.  They also understand well the end of their story that results in a life eternal.  What they completely miss is the transition that occurs between the beginning and the end.  The change in who you are that occurs is something they understand all too little.  Christians understand they need to obey, and that they “should” be doing good deeds, but their carnal nature has never been fully understood, let alone removed from them.  So they continue to war against their own selfishness, and predictably lose the battle again and again.  Oh sure, it is easy to fall back on forgiveness to cover what I just did wrong.  But it is infinitely harder not to “want” to do wrong again.  Just give me a little time to get past my guilt, and I will be right back here committing the same sin over and over again.  It is an addiction to selfishness from which Christians are every bit as afflicted as the regular “good guy” is, with nearly no distinction.

It is that lack of distinction that kills the gospel.  If how we live is no different from those around us, no less filled with the anguish of self-inflicted pain – what is point of the gospel?  The gospel was intended to free us from that pain, not give us a license to wallow in it.  The gospel was intended to make us members of the kingdom of God in the here and now, not in some distant future that only occurs after we die and are resurrected in perfection.  The gospel breaks our chains of slavery right here, right now, and makes us free from sin, not free to sin.  Through submission of our will to Christ we become someone new right now.  The process begins here in this world.  And the changes that become evident cannot be hidden.  When we love like He loves, our persona begins to scream that we are Christians.  We become a peculiar people, because we no longer suffer from the same pain that the regular “good guy” inflicts on himself every day.  The freedom from sin and self-love makes our lives better right here and right now.  We become free to want something else, something better.

This is the lure of the gospel.  This is the power of the gospel.  This is something Peter well understood and wanted to insure the early church did not lose sight of in the corrupt world in which they lived.  The point of Christ offering us life was not about extending the number of years we live on this earth, but exploding the joy of every minute we live right here and now.  Christ was not offering us the trappings of this world in which people believe there is happiness.  We are not to be free because of wealth, or power, or even perfect health.  We may still carry the burden of poverty, oppression, and disease brought on by our own choices, or those of others.  But no matter our earthly conditions, our internal conditions can be radically different.  It is not a Mercedes Benz, Armani suit and Rolex watch that screams Christian, it is a heart that loves so deeply it cannot turn away from any need.  It is a heart that is compelled to act because it simply cannot just “pass by”. 

Peter was keen that the early church understood the gospel frees them to be something else, something better.  In chapter 4 of his first letter he begins in verse 1 writing … “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;”  We may suffer from the evil actions of those that war against love in this world.  Christ did.  Christ took the abuse we heaped upon Him, because He had an eye for our redemption.  Those who have experienced redemption should be like minded.  For it was through the suffering of Christ, that He was given the power to see us redeemed from our former selves.  It is through the sacrifice of Christ, His willingness to take on our punishment, that He is now able to offer us the gift of freedom from our sins.

Peter continues in verse 2 … “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. [verse 3] For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:”  Herein is the hope of our gospel, herein is its power.  Because of the sacrifice of Christ – “we” – are no longer to live the “rest of our time in the flesh” according to the lusts of men.  The transformation Christ offers us is real.  It is permanent.  It is life altering.  What we used to crave, we no longer have to crave.  What we used to want, we no longer have to want.  What we used to be unable to cease from doing, we no longer have to do.  All addictions broken.  All patterns of negative behavior changed, such that we stop hurting ourselves and others.  This happens IN THE FLESH, meaning in the here and now.  This is not a distant promise that only sees fulfillment in heaven, it is an immediate here and now beginning that makes THIS LIFE a better one.

Instead of living in slavery to self, we are blessed to live according to the “will of God”.  Obedience is not possible without harmony with God.  We can fake it, but we cannot achieve it.  But when we abandon our ideas for His, when we submit our decisions and desires to Him in order to be remade – He transforms how we think and how we love and brings us into harmony with Him.  After transformation, obedience is not only possible, it becomes natural, a part of who we are.  After transformation our slavery to self is ended, as we are made free from sin by Him.  What we used to do, how we used to live, becomes truly a part of our past – NOT our present.  Peter is clear, and pulls no punches, as he describes our past lives prior to transformation with Christ.  He calls himself, and each of us out for having lived in a condition of lust, partying, and abominable acts of self-love.  Sex, drugs, and rock and roll anyone?  Living according to the will of men, and steeped in a culture of sexual exploration where self-gratification rules all is a part of our FORMER lives, not our present ones.

Our transformation changes the perversion of self-love, into an unselfish love of others.  Our focus becomes how to improve the lives of others, not how to make our own a little better.  Sex becomes something intimate shared in the confines of a marriage where we give everything we have to serve the needs of the most precious gift of spouse we have been given.  Drugs, or anything that would reduce our ability to truly feel, and think, becomes a distraction and detriment we no longer want getting in the way of the joy He brings.  Rock and roll that glorifies the things of this world is discarded.  The music we value becomes music that will only uplift the cause of God, we have no time for music that would deter from His glory.  It is not the genre of music we concern ourselves with, it is the utility of the music to bring one closer to Christ.

Peter continues in verse 4 … “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: [verse 5] Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. [verse 6] For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”  Peter reminds the church that once they begin to experience transformation and no longer wish to do the things that once were so important to them, the world takes notice.  We will be criticized by our “friends” who continue to party without us.  Misery loves company.  Those who still engage in hurtful practices of the world, and know we used to be with them in these things, are not happy when we make another choice.  They do not understand why we would no longer to do all those “fun” things with them anymore.  They judge us harshly, it is natural to do so.

But Peter continues, that the preaching of the gospel is targeted at those who are dead to God, and alive only in their sins.  The point of the gospel is to resurrect people who have known only pain and death into a real and vibrant life with Christ.  The power of the gospel is that it can stop the pain we inflict upon ourselves and others, and replace that with the will of God, which is to make the lives of others better through His love.  It is the Spirit of God that works within us to reflect Him, and His love through us to others.  We become tools in the work of redemption.  Less broken than we were before.  Less hurting than our former choices put upon us.  Less dead to life than we have ever been.  The process of transformation leads us to a good accounting of His love reflected through us to others.

Peter continues in verse 7 … “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”  When we consider the enormity of decisions people will make for or against a life with Christ, we begin to sense the urgency of the gospel we preach.  Every day, circumstances and things beyond our control will claim the life of someone near to us, for that person, the end of all things has come.  Peter is not advocating that we abandon all joy in order to be sober.  But he is making a statement that our highest joy is shared with God in the redemption of just one more soul.  We should be ever praying for that experience to be one in which we share.  Having experienced the freedom from a former sin, having known the joy that comes from becoming a better version of who we were, our prayer should ever be how to successfully witness for the cause of Christ.  Our goal is for others to come to know what we have come to know ourselves.

Peter continues in verse 8 … “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. [verse 9] Use hospitality one to another without grudging. [verse 10] As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”  The key witness to the world, the key observation they will see, when they look at you to determine if you are a Christian is whether you have a “fervent charity” for others.  Those who deeply care about others show this characteristic in everything about them.  Strangely it comes out in how they dress, how they speak, what kind of friend they are, and how they interact with total strangers.  The transformation is self-evident, unmistakable, and transparently clear. 

The fervent love of others leads us to behave differently.  We stop thinking about what we can take from someone, and start thinking about what we can offer without being asked.  This change in how we love as Peter says “covers” a multitude of sins.  We no longer think to lie to someone because they deserve the truth.  We no longer think to steal from them, take their wife or property, or worse hurt or kill them.  All the commandments that deal with how we treat people are covered automatically when we love them and not ourselves.  The commandments to love God also become self-evident when through our submission to Him, we find ourselves loving Him more for what He does in our lives.  Peter says that love for others is reflected even in the slightest things like how we offer hospitality to others.  We share our gifts with others, not with a grudging heart that longs to retain its wealth, but with a heart that understands our wealth is defined in what we share, not what we hold.  The wealth of God is not defined in the mass of gold He created, but in the joy He takes in sharing His wealth with all His creations.  God does not hoard gold in a pristine vault deep underground in heaven.  Instead He sprinkles it everywhere, and puts in into the concrete of His city, to give us something nice to look at.  His joy is found as we appreciate how He makes our lives just a little better. 

And our gifts are not just confined by what we “have” in material wealth, they are also defined by what God has given to us to share.  Peter continues in verse 11 … “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  When we speak, we should be speaking as if we are His prophets, and have clarity into His will.  This is no small thing.  It changes the tenor of most of our conversations.  When we speak about religious topics, often it is with reservation based on how little we know.  But the more we love others, the deeper that love becomes as He works to transform us, the more insight we begin to have regarding the intentions of our God.  A revelation of how deep His love is for us, is ALWAYS a welcome revelation.  Using the gifts God has given us to minister, whether compassion, caring, clarity of speech, articulation, discernment … all are to be steeped in the deep and abiding love of God for ALL mankind.  When our speech is consistent in this manner, we do become oracles of God, a window into which God can be seen reflected through us.

A Christian who has not been transformed by Christ may not be self-evident to the world around them.  But one who is undergoing the transformation to love like Christ loves becomes a beacon of light to the world which cannot be hidden from it.  Living a life free from the pain sin causes, living free to love others without precondition, hesitation or limit – this is the “life” Christ offers us in the here and now.  Living this way transforms those who are familiar with the stories in scripture, to those who have one of their own, a living one …

 

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? ...

Intent is difficult to define.  What we perceive about any given event is then influenced by our own mind-set at the time.  If we witness someone crossing the street, and at the time we are coming from a joyful place, where things are going well for us, our world seems full of potential, and our dreams are right around the corner – we tend to associate good or at least neutral “motives” or intentions with the scene of someone crossing the street.  However, if we have just been burglarized, our security shattered, our wealth threatened – the person crossing the street may well be in the midst of a get-away.  It is the same person performing the same action, but how we “judge” or evaluate that identical action is not influenced by the person, but influenced by where our own mind is at the time. 

It is not that dissimilar when someone does something nice for us.  We may think the gesture comes from a place of love in the heart of the giver.  This is particularly true if our own heart longs to show love to others.  But we may also think the gesture is done for an ulterior motive, we become suspicious of what we will be obligated to do if we accept it.  We begin to resent the person for placing us in an uncomfortable situation – looking ungrateful if we refuse, or being obligated if we accept.  The negative evaluation of the identical gesture can lead us so far, as to begin to avoid the giver, or worse begin to take pre-emptive or retributive actions against them.  It is sad to say, but a heart that loves only itself, or itself above all others, tends to see “good deeds” through the lens of selfish motives.  We accuse others of the behaviors we are familiar with … because we see them in ourselves.  We come to believe that others are incapable of “good deeds” because we too are largely incapable.  But in typical fashion, we deny the transference, and convince ourselves, this is just being “practical” in our world.

How a “gift” is received is a reflection of the heart of the recipient – it is not a statement about the motives of the giver.  To offer something freely, regardless of how it is received, perhaps in spite of how it is received, is a reflection of the heart of the giver.  Christ offers us the “gift” of freedom from sin.  But in our sin, we judge that He is just trying to take away from us, something that we hold dear.  He may be trying to take away our “fun”, and leave us with the “drudgery” of obeying the law.  Yet Christ continues to offer us this “gift”.  When we begin to realize, that there is no more precious a “gift” that He could have offered us, the realization is a reflection of change in our own hearts.  His “gift” has not changed, our responses have.  We may have at first rejected what He offered, and even been resentful that He would put us in the uncomfortable situation of – looking ungrateful if we refuse, or being obligated if we accept.  We may have gone so far as to avoid Him as the giver, or worse to take pre-emptive or retributive actions against Him.  But He loves and offers just the same.  And when once we accept, He transforms how we think about the same “gift”, forgiving us completely for what we might have done against Him and His “gift” in the past.

If our Savior must endure this rejection, this improper judgment of His motives, this devaluation of the most precious “gift” in all of history as He works to redeem you and me – can we seriously think our minor good deeds will not undergo the same phenomenon as we attempt to reach out to those around us?  Peter understood this phenomenon.  He had witnessed it first hand as Christ healed the lame man, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised Lazarus from the dead.  The beautiful gifts of Christ, were judged by the religious leadership of His day, to be the acts of Satan, because those actions did not conform to the authority of the church.  Having seen this, Peter is keen to share the foreknowledge with the early Christian church, not only about what to expect, but about continuing to return good for evil in spite of how it is received.

Peter continues in chapter 3 of his first letter to the church beginning in verse 14 … “But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; [verse 15] But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”  Offending an oppressive authority carries a substantial risk.  A citizen of North Korea who openly insults the “precious leader” is likely to see his life forfeit as a result.  The same is true in religiously based totalitarian states; offer offense to the dominant religious thinking or ideology and lives are lost as a result.  It was no different under Roman rule, perhaps only that it might have been worse.  Insulting Kim in Korea is a rule everyone can understand.  In Rome, that could apply to a host of people.  Insulting Islam in a predominantly Muslim country is a rule everyone can understand.  In Rome, there were a myriad of religions that came in and out of favor, each particular “god” having its own set of rules and regulations.

Peter has just given wise counsel in our last study about the secret to living a long and happy life.  In a nutshell, he offers that it may be as simple as keeping your tongue in check.  When you speak, avoid malice, mischief, and speak with the love that comes from the inherited blessing of working in conjunction with Christ for the redemption of the lost.  He states in the above verses, that even after following that advice, there may be those who continue to judge you harshly, and threaten your very existence.  But the consistent response of returning good for evil, will drive your oppressor to wonder “how” you are able to respond this way.  Peter then offers, that this event, is what we longed to see.  Stand ready to give an answer of the reason for hope within you, in both meekness and respect, to the one who asks.  It is not in returning equal violence and equal evil for what is done to us, that our oppressor begins to cease his actions.  His heart remains untouched.  But when he is offered love for evil, his heart must understand this, and in so doing can become changed.

Peter continues in verse 16 … “Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. [verse 17] For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.”  Keeping a positive consistent, Christ-like love in our speech, has the added benefit of freeing our hearts and minds from the guilt that comes in speaking or doing evil to others.  Those who are consistent in loving others, sleep better.  And “if” we are to suffer because of the wickedness of other men, then let us suffer for our good deeds and good speech – than to suffer for the gossip we spread, and the lies we tell, and the jealousy and judgmental-ism that so often cross the “Christian’s” lips.  To suffer for our misdeeds is only justice; there is no nobility in it.  But to suffer for our good deeds, is to walk the path of patient love that our Savior tread before us.

Peter continues in verse 18 … “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”  Peter reminds us that Christ suffered and died, not only for those who would accept His gift, but for those who would choose to reject it.  He died for everyone, not just for His followers.  He longed to have all the world experience the freedom from sin He offers.  But how an individual responds to Christ is the choice of that person.  Christ died for him.  How he responds is left to him. 

Peter continues in verse 19 … “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;”  The New Testament does not talk much about the prison ministry of Jesus.  There are some interactions between the disciples of John the Baptist when he is imprisoned that are recorded.  There is also the parable Jesus tells of the separation of sheep and goats based in part on how they visited those in prison.  John’s gospel states that many more things Jesus did while he was here, so many that no volume of books could contain the whole of them.  So perhaps Peter here alludes to a personal knowledge that Jesus did indeed visit those in prison to offer them hope.  Or perhaps Peter here is talking about how Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit is able to free us from the prison of sin and self-slavery we have embraced.  In either case, our Lord is highly concerned about our freedom from sin, and often is misjudged by us, throughout the process of salvation.

Peter continues in verse 20 … “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”  Notice that even when the world was judged to be so continually evil that it must be destroyed, the sentence was delayed for 120 years, so that perhaps some of mankind might reconsider and be saved.  Entry into the ark was not forbidden by Noah, it was encouraged.  He preached for 120 years about what was coming, and how mankind might be saved.  It takes very little risk to enter the ark “just in case” Noah is right.  It takes tremendous arrogance to ignore the first-hand accounts of Adam and Eve who lived nearly half the time between the garden of Eden and the flood.  It takes tremendous arrogance to ignore the angel with the flaming sword who stood at the entrance to the garden of evil to insure mankind no longer ate from the tree of life.  There was first hand and physical proof of the existence of a creator God.  Yet not a single soul took the precaution of entering the ark “just in case”.  Only Noah and his family were saved.  The disobedient were set in their course, despite the mercy God continued to extend to them.  And as it was in the days of Noah …

Peter continues in verse 21 … “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: [verse 22] Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”  Peter compares the flood where evil men died, to the symbolism of baptism, where the evil in our hearts is drowned by our choice to submit and follow Jesus Christ.  Peter qualifies that it is not our actions that save us, but our willingness to be transformed by God, brought into harmony with how God thinks, and loves others.  As we emerge from the baptismal waters, so Christ emerged from the grave.  As Christ is ascended into heaven, and has been given all power and authority sitting on the right hand of God, so He is able to save us from the slavery of sin that would have cost us our lives and existence, and bring us home to Him.

The process of our salvation is founded on the patient love of God.  God allowed time for the people in Noah’s day to hear the message, and have the chance to see redemption.  It was the people of that day that refused to be saved.  The actions of the life of Christ did not return hate speech for hate speech, instead constantly trying to guide the Pharisees and unbelievers to the knowledge of the love of God for man.  It was the Pharisees who refused to ever embrace that love, with only few exceptions.  Peter reminds us that our consistent positive love-centered speech is not always going to be received well.  We will be judged harshly, often by those most in need, and most steeped in evil.  But that should not diminish our showing love to them; instead it should serve to increase it.

The end-game for God is about our redemption.  He was willing to endure tremendous pain and suffering and insult, even death, in order to see us redeemed.  He is willing to forgive everything we have done to Him, just hoping so fervently to see us accept His love, and be with Him forever.  There was no price He was not willing to pay to see the job done.  Nothing He would not endure.  That kind of love is limitless, infinite, and beyond our comprehension.  The best we will ever do is accept it.  We may never come to fully understand it.  Our carnal nature can simply not make sense of it.  Yet it exists.  If evil is to be eliminated, it must be by a choice for something else.  His love provides a reason to seek that choice.  His love provides a method of seeing that choice become a reality.  His love abides with us before, during and after this process takes place.  His love is everything …

 

An Epitaph for Death [part two] ...

In the previous portion of this study, our story in Revelations chapter 20 began AFTER the second coming to reunite us with our Lord and our God had already taken place.  The final end of evil remains the part of the story still to be told.  The Bible is more than just the story of the redemption of humanity.  It also serves to tell the story of the rise and eradication of evil itself.  That final ending part of the story of evil had only just begun.  Satan was bound alone with his demonic following here in the destroyed earth for 1000 years.  During this time we, the redeemed, review the judgments of our God upon those who have steadfastly refused every opportunity to accept the gift of His perfect freedom to love others.  The wicked lost have been asleep in their graves during this millennia but now, the time for evil is nearly done.  The time to see evil end is about to be revealed.

John continues in verse 7 … “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, [verse 8] And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”  As mentioned earlier the minute the wicked are raised, Satan looks with singular purpose to do one thing, build an army that can defeat the angels he lost to before.  Satan raises the old argument citing history from the tower of Babel, that if mankind unites behind a single purpose, we can defeat God.  Satan does not discourage evil in his ranks, he promotes it.  But in this instance he is not looking to lose troop numbers, so there is to be no early killing of each other in the ranks of his army.  We are to save our blood lust for the meek and mild residents of the city of heaven.  Notice too, there is no rebellion in his ranks.  No one stands up and rejects his ideas of conquest and murder.  No one refuses what he offers.

Think about it.  Scripture foretells all of this.  You are reading the future history of evil and righteousness right now in great detail.  Yet despite a sure knowledge of the outcome, if you find yourself awakened to be on the side of evil, you will join this insanity willingly.  What choice do you have?  What other fate is there?  Perhaps some join with the full knowledge of their impending doom.  Perhaps some continue to perpetrate evil acts of immorality and self-pleasure as much as they can while they await the coming battle.  How else to motivate his troops but to offer them temporary pleasures they might have been too timid to partake of while there was yet hope of redemption?  Evil does not look to reform and better itself, it looks only to deepen in the course it pursues.  What level of immorality could scarcely be imagined now, is fully set loose now that only one final battle remains.  Once again, the decisions to be lost or saved are seen cemented in the continued choices and actions of those in both camps.  The righteous are racked with grief at their own inadequacy in loving the lost back to redemption.  While the wicked are steeped in nothing but hate to see those who they formerly purported to love, killed to get out of their way.

Despite everything, despite the clarity of these revelations given to John and to us, NO ONE changes their minds or pursues a different course.  It is at this point, when the wicked approach the city of New Jerusalem descended from God to our world for the final battle, that a pause occurs.  The sky will serve as the 3D HD TV Screen from which a movie will be presented.  It is the actual story of humanity, of the genesis of evil, of the mission of love to redeem.  It is the story of His sacrifice here in life and on Calvary.  And within this picture is revealed to each individual the history of the attempts by God to see each of them redeemed.  All will see what Christ did.  All will see what was done in their own lives to see them redeemed.  And the results of this panoramic picture, perhaps the greatest movie ever played will have a unified result, even in the camp of the wicked.  ALL will bow before Christ and acknowledge that only the Lamb is worthy of worship and praise.  It is an involuntary response from a heart and sentient mind created by God.  No one can help themselves from doing anything other than this, up to and including Satan himself.

What happens next however is the reaction and distinction between good and evil.  The righteous once again have prostrated themselves before the Lamb, throwing their crowns to the ground at the thought of their own unworthiness.  They rise only as He comforts them and assures them once again of His so great love for them.  They think only to serve this God of Love in any way they can, according to His great purpose.  They carry no weapons.  They intend no blood shed.  They are not there to fight.  They are armed with only a love and gratitude to Christ that cannot be comprehended by us now, or by those who lay before them at that time.  They, like God, long for a different outcome.  They wish only that those who are lost, who at least now have seen the worthiness of Christ would seek one more time a chance at redemption.  Perhaps even now it is not too late.  But alas, one moment of clarity in the lives of evil, does not result in any desire to change.

And so it begins.  The evil ones rise from their acknowledgement of the love of Christ, with only one thought on their collective minds, to kill Christ.  They realize that so great a love exists, and since they cannot be a part of it, they must kill it to have peace.  But like at His second coming, this battle will end before it begins.  John continues in verse 9 saying … “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [verse 10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Notice first that the attacking troops are “devoured” by the fires of God.  The devil is thrown into a lake of fire and will die last, in order that he suffer the longest and be punished for the magnitude of his deceptions and evil and pain he has caused.  John continues in verse 11 … “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. [verse 12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”  He who longed to be their savior, stands now to impose the sentences of those who have been judged in the courts of heaven.  There is no escape for any who have refused to embrace redemption.  All men and women, both small and great are to have sentences passed.  They will burn and suffer in proportion to the pain they have caused. 

John continues in verse 13 … “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”  There is no form of death that a wicked person could have experienced in this life that does not give way to these series of events.  Whether lost in a drowning in the depths of the sea, or obliterated in the blast of an atomic weapon, all the lost have been raised, all have seen the judgment of Christ, and all are to now experience the lake of fire in direct proportion to the pain they have caused.  Those who have caused little pain for others will be consumed fully and quickly.  Those who have caused much pain for others will be consumed slower, and will die only over a period of time, receiving in direct proportion to what they have caused, the pain they have wrought.

The effects of this punishment are to be eternal, just as the choice while they lived to embrace evil would not be altered even after seeing the great love of Christ in attempting to redeem them.  There will be no further chances at redemption, nor any further resurrections to look forward to.  Whatever the length of lifeline they have lived to date, it is to be their last.  Immortality is NOT on the menu.  A permanent existence even in torture is NOT to be their fate.  They are to burn, and die, and be no more.  Satan and his demonic hoard will die last, but die they will.  The universe is to be cleansed of all evil, not have it exist forever, even in a tortured state.  Justice demands the death of evil, not its continual preservation. 

Imagine the alternative for a moment.  If traditional views of hell were correct, then Satan is obviously not impacted by the flames, or otherwise how is he able to continue to deceive mankind for the last 6000 years while hell was going on, presumably starting with Cain.  After some period of time humans will adapt to a pain that does not kill them.  It is in our nature to do this.  So either God would have to constantly continue to invent new ways to cause us pain, or whatever the fires do, would eventually become commonplace to us.  Then too, even if punishment could be eternally causing pain, at what point would our sentence be served and the demands of justice met?  Even Hitler, should have atoned for his murders at some point.  It might take 6 million years to atone, or perhaps 6 billion, but at some point doesn’t Hitler have the right to state that his debt is paid?  Eternal torture perpetuates evil forever, instead of eliminating it as God has promised.  And can you imagine the acts of evil that would continue even in a venue like hell, if hell were a place that lasts forever.  Lastly, how could any of us, the redeemed who think of nothing but to love others, find happiness while those who we loved, continue to exist in a state of perpetual torture.  None of this makes sense.  It is a misrepresentation of the character of God, as told to us by His enemy, and with attempts at using scripture to prove it.

Our traditional teachings of an eternally burning hell are the doctrines of the enemy, designed to perpetuate a myth of an unfair God who desires pain and not redemption.  But to punctuate this fact, and undo any lingering doubts in our minds, John continues and concludes this epitaph in verse 14 … “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [verse15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  The final thing to be consumed by the fires sent by God are “death” and “hell”.  Death itself is to be put to an end.  Once Satan has died, once there are no more alive who have chosen to embrace evil, death will NO longer be relevant or needed in our universe ever again.  Its purpose will be ended with no future victims of its concepts.  Evil will now be in a state of non-existence.  Only good will remain.  The fires will go out.  They will do their eternal job, in inflicting an eternal punishment, but then when the job is completed, they will be needed no more.  There is to be no more hell.  There is to be no more death.  They are both to be ended.  This revelation is to be their epitaph.

There is no balance between good and evil, as these are mutually exclusive concepts where only one can rule.  Should evil win, life itself would cease to exist for all the roads of evil lead to death, the death of others, and eventually the death of self to escape what we become.  Balance, has never been needed.  Balance, is the mantra of the enemy.  Good does not need evil to survive or find identity.  Good is love, and it will on this day, overcome evil forever more.  In the battle between good and evil, good was always destined to win, as existence itself was the prize in question.  Evil is destined to die, to be extinguished forever in every form. 

From this point forward, even death will be gone forever.  The cycle of life is all we have ever known.  We witness in the leaves of the trees, the cycle of birth, growth, decline, decay, and rebirth.  But once death is gone, perhaps the leaves will be ever green.  Perhaps there is no decay anymore, perhaps to pluck a rose from a bush is to begin a new plant as a result.  We have no idea what it means to live life without the reminders of our own mortality.  We live now treasuring every moment because of the brevity of our lives, but then perhaps we will live treasuring every moment because every moment will have no end.

We might have thought the story of our redemption ended when once we were reunited with Christ.  And perhaps our redemption story was over at that point.  But scripture did not end then, nor did the revelations of Jesus Christ given to John.  The disposition of evil in finality had yet to be given, the ending of death itself was an important point that must be relayed.  This revelation helps us understand what love means, and what justice means.  This revelation dictates the end of evil forever and ever.  It amplifies the finality of the choices we make.  Should we elect to be redeemed, it will be so by the power and love of Jesus Christ.  But should we elect to place our salvation in ourselves, our self-deception will be our undoing.  The evil within us MUST be removed.  For ALL evil will one day meet its end.  If it is still a part of us on that day, our fate will be that of evil.  If we trust to Jesus Christ, our fate will be that of love that remains.

But even now, scripture was not to be at an end.  There is yet more to be revealed.  There is yet more to this story …