Seventh Sunday of Easter A 2020

Towards Christ - A Theology of Suffering

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger- K. Clarkston or Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols 1888)

Which is it? Is man only a blunder of God? Or is God only a blunder of man?

is God causing your problems or are you creating a God (an idol) that is causing your problems

From the military school of life.—That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.

Help thyself, then everyone will help thee. A principle of neighbour-love.

Two types of suffering - (made up delineation) passion and penalty

Suffering rooted in self (without God) is viewed as polish!

Suffering as penalty - self inflicted

Two winters ago kid stuck in parking lot- turns out his ebrake was on. Penalty is natural law- consequences

1st use of the Law (Curb)

Prov 16:4 - The good law of God is set before the works of man.

Proverbs 16:4 ESV

The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

1 Peter 4:15 - a list of self inflicted- not comprehensive problems.

1 Peter 4:15 ESV

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Peter seems to be recounting a direct teaching of Jesus: Matthew 15:10-20

Matthew 15:10–20 ESV

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Each of these evils portray a particular disregard for God’s providence (Heart issues)

Murder - the 5th commandment w/ paul

A distrust that the Lord gives and takes away Job 1:21

The opposite of murder is giving life (John 17:2)

Thief - 6th grade ethics (steal to eat) - not a problem actually (Proverbs 6:30)

In the Iliad Hermes steals the deceased body of Hektor after Achilles drags him around with a chariot. (Thievery is almost noble!)

The problem is again a selfish distrust in God’s gifts to His people

The opposite of theft is keeping (John 17:11) - Gen 2: 15 God put man in the Garden to keep this idea of Keeping is held in the OT as man keeping the law until Jesus where God keeps man.

Theft is about giving our hearts to something or someone that will destroy us.

Evil- Doer

Kakopois - It provokes a question of supreme significance, namely, V 3, p 470 that of the origin and purpose of evil, of the meaning of the world, of the plan and purpose of God. (TDNT)

The devil in the Garden (Did God Really Say?”

The greatest threat to Gods people are not outright acts but the subtle confusions of truth

Meddler- ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος occurs nowhere else in the bible- episkopes is the word for bishop or overseer.

Perhaps this is why 1 Peter 5 starts with an exhortation to those who would serve as leaders in the church.

Natalie and I sat in the pews of a dark church for a while. We started to believe it.

Suffering as passion - the love of God

Peter is saying that if you are one of the previously listed people, your suffering is your own making.

Suffering as a follower of Jesus is different. 1 Peter 4:16-17 are key verses

1 Peter 4:16–17 ESV

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Peter encourages the church to place itself outside of the mainstream ideology of its day.

Christians are a different household (Next door neighbor who had a show home- white socks, no friends over, no playing on the lawn) Christians should look strange - kid had no friends because...

According to Peter we should be humble (v.6), burden casting (v. 7), Sober minded & watchful (v.8), Resistant (v. 9)

1 Peter 5:7 is a challenging verse- perhaps the most challenging. What does it mean to cast your burdens unto Jesus?

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Look at 1 Peter 2:23-25

1 Peter 2:23–25 ESV

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The joy of Christianity is that we have a Good and gracious God that has had to do exactly what we need to do.

Entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly.

Lit. handed himself over

When God calls a man he bids him come and die.

1 Peter 5:6–11

Casting one’s cares on God is a recognition of God’s monopoly on justice as well as a deep-seated confession of God’s power to accomplish his purposes. It is an enacted credo.

1 Peter 5:10

1 Peter 5:10 ESV

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

What does not kill you will make you suffer and it there is some likelihood that it may make you stronger.

Only Christ will completely restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

This week examine your sufferings and fears. Look to the victory of the ascended Lord and know that He is your strength and be confident that this time of angst and pain will pass.