STAND STRONG II Peter
1:1-4
(Keeping Our Faith in a Pluralistic World )01/21/2018
On Martin Luther King’s Day, I was in an ecumenical
meeting organized by the Interfaith Clergy association in Sharon. It was
sobering to hear how in some ways our country is regressing back to pre-civil
right days. Poignantly, speaker after speaker encouraged the audience how we
are to show up, stand up and count the cost in the fight against intolerance,
bigotry, racism and Antisemitism. It was all about how we could achieve peace,
happiness and prosperity if only we could be united and use all our resources
for the common good of many.Though there is some truth in it, as a preacher of the gospel I was amazed by the lack of recognition of God in that effort. It is all about what I can do and we can do, but the truth of the matter is, can we really solve God sized problems with our feeble attempts without the help of God? I was saddened by the mere absence of recognizing the enormity of the problem and our inadequacy. I wondered, as a society why are we so adverse when it comes to seeking God.
Whether we realize or not the world we are living in is becoming more and more pluralistic, where several “isms” such as atheism, syncretism, humanism, nihilism and pluralism seem to dictate to us how are we to live and conduct our affairs. In this context of a pluralistic society, how can we Christians stand strong, and boldly proclaim the Biblical truths? Such as:
God is all powerful and He is ready to hear and deliver us when we cry out to Him for help. He so loved the world that he sent His only son Jesus Christ and who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting(abundant) life. Only by having faith in Christ, people can be saved etc. In the passage we read, the Apostle Peter was writing to the believers who were living in a hostile world, with conflicting ideologies that threatened their faith. II Peter 1:1-4
Let me paint the picture of Christianity during AD 70. Christ had just died and rose again. A fledgling church began in Jerusalem and soon began to spread its wings to the rest of the world. Early Christians not only expected suffering but romanticized martyrdom. First Peter was written after July A.D 64 when the city of Rome burned. Initially, the Romans believed that Nero had set the city on fire probably because of his incredible lust to build.
But Nero made Christians scapegoats, who were already hated because they were associated with Jews, and because they were seen as being hostile to the Roman culture. As a result, a vicious persecution against Christians began and soon spread throughout the Roman empire, touching places like Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, shaking the very foundations of Christianity. Is our present world any different than the world of early Christians?
Let me paint a picture of persecuted Christians in our world today. “Christians today face worse persecution than at any time in history, yet the UN and the international community are largely ignoring them, Catholic Herald reports. In China, for example, Christians have come under increasing pressure as authorities try to force their religion to conform to Communist ideals. More than 2,000 churches have been demolished in the coastal province of Zhejiang, and police are still routinely detaining clergy.
In Iraq, more than half of the country’s Christian population became internal refugees, while Syria’s second city of Aleppo, which until 2011 was home to the largest Christian community, saw numbers dropping from 150,000 to barely 35,000 by spring 2017 – a fall of more than 75 per cent.[1] These are just only a few incidents, and there are much more going on in the world un noticed by the government and even by the media. How about in the US? We may not face such overt persecution but we have been engaged in an ideological warfare. The Christian faith has come under attack and has been found wanted.
There have been numerous attempts to discredit the claims of Christ, inorder to devalue our Christian faith. In his book “Jesus Among Secular Gods” Ravi Zacharias notes how Richard Dawkins a very popular British atheist and the other of the God Delusion replied to a questioner in a gathering in Washington DC, on how one should respond to a person who believed in God, Dawkins replied saying, “Mock them, and Ridicule them.” In another interview, he said, “I am all for offending people’s religion. It should be offended at every opportunity.” Really?
Intolerance, prejudice, disrespect, hatred and offense are all within the fruit of Dawkins’ philosophy. “On the other hand, we have another world-renowned British physicist and an atheist named Stephen Hawking, whose former wife Jane Hawkings was and is a devout Christian, an intellectual in her own right. Living side-by-side with one of the brightest minds in the world did not take away her deep belief in Christ and in the created order.”[2]
What a fascinating testimony of Jane Hawkings? If Jane, could hold on to her faith in a culture where there is no regard whatsoever for God, we too can hold to our faith and succeed. The Apostle Peter wrote two letters, to the believers that were scattered all over the world. In the first letter Peter used Jesus’ own suffering as the cornerstone of his exhortation. His concern there was that Christians suffer as Christians not as lawbreakers.
The second letter was written to take on a group of false teachers who were about to cause problems to the believers. He gave faith tools to the believers to stand strong in their faith and confront false teachers He encouraged the believers to take Jesus Christ as their sure foundation. Reading these two letters would help us glean principles to stand strong in our faith.
I. WE HAVE EVERYTHING IN CHRIST:
The apostle Peter begins his letter with these words, Vs 1-2“Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Can you imagine what impact those opening verses may have had on the struggling, discouraged Christians community of the first Century? Let’s look at a few truths from these verses: The faith we as Christians share today is the same faith that of the early apostles and Christ’s followers down through the centuries. It is precious! We did not obtain salvation by our good works, but His grace we have been saved. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith; therefore, we can stand firm on Him. Peter goes on to unfold what Christ has given to his people to live godly lives in a society that is becoming increasingly hostile and intolerant towards all those who want to sincerely follow Christ.
Vs 3, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” Let me explain this verse: “His divine power” refers to Jesus Christ. Christ’s power as the source of all we need to live, persevere. Jesus has exhibited power all throughout his ministry. Luke 4:14, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.” Remember when the woman with the issue of bleeding touched the hem of his garment, “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” It was the power of Jesus, that healed that woman. Mk 5:30. In Matthew 24:30, we read about Christ’s powerfully glorious return. “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”
The same Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8. The apostle Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that Christ was actually living in them. “For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? 2 Corinthians 13:4-5
How should we then live when we realize that Christ indeed is living in us by the power of His Holy Spirit? How should that truth effect the way we treat our bodies and relate with one another? Romans 8:10, “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” The Holy Spirit can give us the power to live our Christian lives vibrantly and productively. But it can only happen with determination. In Galatians 2:20 we read about Paul’s resolve. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Much can be said about Christ’s power, for now it is sufficient to know that Christ’s divine power has given as everything we need for life and godliness. We don’t have to worry about our eternal salvation, Christ has given that to us, freely. Besides that, he also has given all the tools in our arsenal to stand strong, to grow in our faith, persevere under trails and to live God honoring productive lives. How do we know and learn to use all that Christ has given to us? All I want to say in closing is that, we can only know all that God has given to us and learn to exercise those tools through our (true) knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Knowledge is a key word in Second Peter. Amen
