An Honorable Life

Friday, May 1, 2020

For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed.  For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.  It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.  For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.  Respect everyone, and love the family of believers.  Fear God, and respect the king.  1 Peter 2:13-17

Adolph Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany in the early/mid 20^th century was a passionate man who had little or no compassion for others.  He knew what he wanted to accomplish, and his actions proved his methods built a life and legacy without honor; the man was a monster.

It matters WHAT you accomplish with your life, but, frankly, it is just as important, and perhaps, more important, HOW you do it.  All the good (supposedly) intentions in the world are useless unless they are met with actions which honor the good you intend to do. 

It is said that an honorable life is where integrity for doing right meets living.  Peter expressed this in six memorable words:  Fear God, and respect the king.  Of course the word “fear” means to honor, or revere, in the sense that we keep in mind God is sovereign, holy, and almighty; we fear (or honor) God, by not neglecting God’s way in our own actions.  In so doing we put to silence foolish accusations.

There have been plenty of movements in recent years that are honorably conceived, such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and others of social-justice, that have plenty of strong basis in Scripture.  Accomplishing racial, gender, and economic parity in the realms of freedom and human dignity are goals worthy of Godly standard.  But, as stated previously, HOW these are achieved are also vitally central to the results.  When a protest against some ungodly oppression, or practice of one group toward another turns ugly, there is little honor for our God. 

A prime example of this is the collapse of decency and restraint in the early 1990’s when the “Rodney King riots” in Los Angeles errupted over a police chase and savage beating of the suspect was caught on video.  The ensuing inconclusive action by the legal system preciptated violent riots in which more than 50 people lost their lives over 6 days.[1]

It is one thing to protest violence, but when your protest is conveyed by violent means, it isn’t fighting fire with fire; it’s adding more unholy fuel to a raging downward spiral of hatred, fear, and unleashed evil.

The apostle Peter had a moment like that in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Judas led the Roman Guard to arrest Jesus, betryaing the son of God with a kiss on the cheek.  Peter protested by swinging his sword and cutting off the ear of Malchus, servant of the High Priest[2].  Peter’s intention to prevent the crucifixion of Jesus was righteous; his actions were not.  Had Jesus not stopped the hostilities by healing Malchus’ injury, there might have been a dozen crucifixions that day.  Added violence never solves anything; it certainly can neve be called “honorable” in anyone’s life.

For You Today

The difference between loving peace and making peace is as wide as night and day.  Loving peace merely requires thinking and supposing you’re right in the way you conceive peace ought to look.  To be a peace maker requires putting your motives and methods on trial in your heart every waking moment, and living with what the court of conscience rules.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO 

Title Image:  Military.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on 1 Peter 2 see Honorable Behavior Part 1 and Part 2

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[1] Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles Began on This Day In 1992

[2] John 18:10

The School of Suffering and Unanswered Prayer

[i]

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death.  And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.  Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.  Hebrews 4:7-8^(NLT)

In the Gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, whenever he prayed, big stuff happened!  People were healed, changed, cleansed of demonic possession, and even raised from the dead.  The writer to the Hebrews underscores that, claiming that the prayers and pleadings of Jesus were heard by God.  You cannot help but notice the writer calls the prayers and pleadings loud, and with tears.  Jesus was no whispering prayer warrior. 

But the tears sound like Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, and the loud cry reminds us of the great shout on the cross just as Christ gives up His spirit.  Neither of those times of suffering appears (on the surface) to be prayers that were answered.  In Gethsemane the prayer of Jesus was for the Father to save him from the cup of suffering.  On the cross his shouted prayer was Tetelestai – it is finished, the prayer of an accomplished mission. 

So…were Jesus’ prayers of release from suffering, and completing his mission by bringing in the Kingdom of God answered…or was the Hebrew writer wrong?  Did God hear AND answer Jesus’ prayers…or not?

We know Jesus had to plow through the agony of Gethsemane, and God did not “rescue” Jesus from suffering death on the cross; Scripture tells us he sweat great drops of blood in that time of prayer for our souls, and he died, stone-cold dead! 

So…were the prayers of God the Son ignored by God the Father?  Was Jesus’ suffering and death a matter of unanswered prayer?  It probably appeared that way at least to Peter who was ready to give up all this religious stuff and head back to his fishing nets.

The explanation of this (and so much more) is found in the drama surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus, who had died and was buried.  Jesus showed up four days later and told them to roll away the stone covering the tomb:

So they rolled the stone aside.  Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.  You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”  John 11:41-42^(NLT)

From the mouth of Jesus we hear that God the Father always hears his prayers.  And we also hear from Christ that, for the sake of our faith, sometimes he suffered through some things so we can see and be made stronger by His obedience.

In Jesus’ agonizing prayer and shout from the cross, he was not trying to awaken God to his own needs; the Christ was identifying with what we are, fragile, afraid and dependent, so that we can see through the experience of our suffering, that obedience, even in the face of pain, is Godly and worthwhile. 

It’s a tough road, this school of suffering and unanswered prayer.  But in heaven’s perspective, it isn’t unanswered prayer at all; it’s God answering the way God chooses is best. 

For You Today

Some suffering is unavoidable.  Some suffering in your life is going to be a blessing in somebody else’s life.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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Title image: Gyula Benczúr [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

My Soul is Troubled

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’  Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.  Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.  ‘Now my soul is troubled.  And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”?  No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.’  Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’  The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder.  Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’  Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’  He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.  John 12:20-33 (NRSV)

The sign has been posted on many pulpits throughout the land; it can be seen by the preacher as he shares the bread of life:  Sir; we would see Jesus.

It was a simple request, We want to see Jesus.  Yet in response Jesus said that his soul was troubled (the word means “agitated”.  Why is it that the man who could stand on a rocking, sinking boat full of frightened fishermen and command the seas and the storm to hush, is so troubled in spirit when a handful of outsider/curiosity seekers want to have a talk with him.?

Easy answer – the cross!  Well, who wouldn’t be agitated?  Jesus knew what was in store for him.  But, going deeper, we have to unpack the phrase to get to the bottom of the “troubling” of Jesus’ soul. 

Physical Trouble

The cross was bad from a physical standpoint.  Untold sermons have been preached that describe the excruciating agony of the beatings and crucifixion.

Sin Trouble

The weight of the sins of all mankind which Jesus would take upon himself was worse than the physical.  Someone once remarked to me that Jesus chose to bear the marks of my sin throughout all eternity.  That may be true, because after the resurrection, Jesus invited Thomas to put his hands right in the nail prints and spear hole in Jesus’ hands and side! 

Eternal Consequences

The most pressing issue was the weight of the mission.  The weight that troubled or agitated Jesus’ soul was the reality that our souls were hanging in the balance on the outcome of what He had come to do.

Now is the judgment of this world;  

The judgment (or “crisis” in Greek) was that Jesus had come to make a dividing line.  Once the cross was lifted to destroy the work of Satan, there would forever be a line drawn between salvation and damnation.  Men would get to choose upon which side they would go, but Christ himself would be the dividing line.

Now, none of this is a surprise; we have heard the Gospel story perhaps many times.  But what of the weight; what was gripping Jesus’ soul and wringing it like a sponge?  What would make him sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane later?

It was us!

The bottom line about the agitation in Jesus’ inner being is you and me.  Our souls were at stake, and the Father loved each of us so much that the Holy Spirit groans over our sin; Christ feels our burden…and it troubles His soul.

When the Gentiles came seeking an audience with Jesus, nobody had really seen Jesus; nobody understood the mission yet.  His disciples didn’t understand, and the crowds followed mostly for healing, loaves and fishes.  The fact is many people still don’t see Jesus.

It was us the thought of us saying “no” that troubled Jesus’ soul

Jesus’ mission was to drive out[1] Satan; His strategy was unconditional surrender – not to Satan, but to the Father’s will.  He gave us the picture of the kernel of wheat grain.  It isn’t any good to the farmer until it yields itself to the farmer’s plan and gets buried in the soil; then it can produce.

Jesus was going to trust God fully; He would bury Himself in obedience to the Father’s will like no man ever did, or has since.  The cross wasn’t Satan’s triumph; it was God’s way of dealing with our sin.  It was by the cross that Jesus would make the offer for all people to come to God for forgiveness, healing and eternal life.  He planted our forgiveness on the cross.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’  

Ultimately, the cross is only an offer – the empty tomb an invitation.  Jesus made the way, but our nature makes it hard to let go and trust Him.  The agitation that Jesus knew in His soul that day was the knowledge of how many people would reject His offer…and die in their sins, eternally-separated from God.

To die without Christ is like a drowning man going down in full view of the hand that could save. 

Christ offers you eternal life – trust Him – run to the cross!

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