A Form of Godliness that Denies the Power

2 Timothy 3:5

There was a time when the intelligentsia of Western culture predicted the end of the Church and all religion, having a vision of a utopia that was a completely secular society. Perhaps the most famous prediction was given by the French atheist Voltaire, who said in the year 1776 that within a century the Bible would just be another ancient relic. Voltaire’s prediction has not come true and the Bible is still the world’s bestseller. However, the spirit of Voltaire and other secularists like him have continued to influence the minds of people in Western societies. And this vision of a secular society is actually becoming a reality.

Even in the last couple of years there are those saying that organized religion, primarily Christian, is going to eventually be extinct in Western societies. The CNN news organization recently reported a study done by a group of mathematicians that predicts the end of organized religion in nine Western societies. The study was done based on the growing numbers of people who are not affiliated with any organized religious group. The fastest growing religious group in Western nations is those who are unaffiliated with any organized religious group. The group of mathematicians was not trying to come out against religion or Christianity, but were simply doing a mathematical and sociological study. The numbers are showing the gradual death of organized religion, especially Christianity, in the West.

What should we draw from these kinds of studies? First, these studies do not necessarily mean that people are becoming atheists. They are turning away from organized religion, but not belief in God. Secondly, people are still interested in spirituality even though they are ambivalent about religion.

But the deeper question is why are people turning away from religion, especially from Christianity? Could it be that religion, including the religion that wears the name of Christ, is viewed by many people in Western societies as a colossal failure? The Christian writer and philosopher G.K. Chesterton once said that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” I agree with Chesterton. The trouble is not that Christianity has actually failed, even though that is the popular perception. The trouble is that the thing that has been called Christianity is not the real thing. People are right to abandon something that is false and powerless.

Some would even argue, with good reason, that religion has actually made the world worse. One of the popular arguments against Christianity is the terrible record of those who claim to be Christians. What should we say to those who raise such objections to the Christian faith? We cannot ignore the reality that most of what parades itself as Christianity does not measure up to what we find in the Scriptures.

Fortunately we do not have to be dismayed by this situation. The Scriptures warn us about this very situation and the spiritual condition that we see in the professed Church today. The Apostles of Christ actually predicted in their writings that these things would happen and that these difficult times would come to the world before the Lord Jesus comes again.

Difficult Times

We are truly living in the difficult times predicted by the Apostle Paul when he wrote to Timothy. But I do not think Paul was referring to some future period of time only, but to a general condition which had already begun to seize the Church even in the Apostolic Era. There would be no reason to warn Timothy about a future problem. Paul is warning Timothy about a situation that he would have to be prepared to navigate in his own ministry.

Many people have a romantic and unrealistic perception of the Church in the Apostolic era. The New Testament Church, as it is often called, is viewed as a pristine model of perfection. And there are those who claim to want to restore the New Testament Church while other Churches actually claim to be the only remaining example of the New Testament Church.

But this ignores the fact that many of the epistles were written to correct the Churches. When Jesus addresses the seven Churches in the book of Revelation He has to rebuke five out of the seven. The decline of the Church had already begun, even before the Apostolic era had ended.

Paul knew that this decline was taking place. When he left Ephesus he told the elders of the Church there that “after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). The infiltration of the Church by false teachers had already begun. Paul is warning Timothy of this reality, which will be the case throughout the history of the Church.

Peter also warned of the rise of false teachers and heresy in the Church (2 Pet 2.1-3) as did Jude (See Jude v.4).

This situation that Paul describes to Timothy is a sign of the last days. We must understand that by the last days we are speaking of the period of time that began on the Day of Pentecost and will end when the Lord Jesus comes again. This period of time will be a difficult time.

We are not speaking of some future tribulation period, but of the times in which we live. We do not want to be disarmed by some doctrine of a future tribulation. We need to be aware of the times in which we live now. Whatever Paul said applied to Timothy and it will apply to us today and not just to some future period of history. No Word of God is irrelevant for our lives now.

The difficult times are not referring to life in the world but to a spiritual condition or climate that makes things difficult for the people of God. It would be difficult because of a decline in the Church. The decline Paul was speaking about would not be seen primarily in culture but in the Church. Paul was not concerned about politics, society, or culture. Paul is concerned about the Church. And we should be concerned about the Church too.

There are too many Christians who are more concerned about who is in the White House than about the condition of the Church. Since the Church is the “pillar and ground of the truth,” (1 Tim. 3.15) and if the Church is salt and light in the world (Matt. 5.13-16), then when there is a decline in the Church there will also be a corresponding decline in the world because the influence of the truth has been diminished. But the difficult times are not traced back to the condition of the unbelieving world. We expect the world to be corrupt. The difficult times are caused by corruption in the Church.

God’s people should be able to understand the times and know how to respond. It is simply unacceptable for God’s people to be like the ostrich and stick our heads in the sand. We should be awake and alert and able to discern the times.

Jesus actually criticized the leaders of the Jews because they were not able to recognize what was going on in their midst. Jesus said that “when it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2-3). God was working in their midst and they were missing it! At the end of His ministry Jesus wept over Jerusalem, lamenting its impending judgment, because they did not recognize the time of their visitation (See Luke 19.44).

God’s people should be able to perceive what God is doing in our generation and also be able to recognize the spiritual climate in which we live. And we should be especially alert and sensitive to what is going on in the Church today. What is the spiritual climate in the Church? Many Church people do not take the time to assess their own Church, not to mention the rest of the Body of Christ. (Some even teach that we should not criticize the Church at all, even though there is a precedent for this in the Scripture and in Church history.)

I fear there are many people who are too wrapped up in worldly pursuits to be able to recognize the signs of the times and what is really going on around us.

Please understand that I am not speaking of just reading the news every day. You might read the news and not really understand the times. I am talking about a spiritual insight and understanding which enables you to interpret what is going on from a Kingdom-centered perspective. This is a rare gift today.

It was once said of the tribe of Issachar that they had “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12.32). Notice the connection between understanding the times, and knowing what the people of God ought to do. How can we know what we ought to do unless we are able to correctly interpret the times in which we live?

The Reason for these Difficult Times

It is fairly easy to see that we are living in difficult times. You don’t have to even be a Christian to see this. And people will give you different reasons for why we are living in difficult times. Even in the Christian community I do not think everyone would define the difficulties of these times in the same way. Many Christians simply point to the moral decline that is so evident in our culture. And this is a very serious problem.

But this still does not tell us why the moral decay happened in the first place. There is a deeper problem that many even in the Christian community cannot or will not see. The problem is described by Paul in his letter to Timothy, and it is not a new problem.

According to the Apostle Paul, the greatest problem in these difficult times is that there are those who want an outward show of religiosity without the power of an inward transformation. This is “a form of godliness that denies the power.” This spiritual condition is at the heart of the difficult times in the last days of which Paul speaks in his letter to Timothy. And this very thing is all around us today. It is so common that we might actually miss it because we have become so accustomed to it.

A form of godliness that denies the power is a condition in which people are outwardly religious, even claiming to be Christian, yet inwardly they are unchanged and unaffected by the power of the truth. And so while they profess to be Christians and even do religious things, like go to Church services, it is all empty and vain. (I think this form of godliness that denies the power could also be applied to people who practice false religions and do not even claim to be Christians. But I don’t think that is what Paul had in mind. There is no reason for Paul to warn Timothy about pagan religions. But there is a reason to warn him about those infiltrating the Church, claiming to be Christians, who deny the power of the Faith.)

The people who have a form of godliness that denies the power are not those who have heard and then openly rejected the Gospel but those who at least outwardly have appeared to receive it. That is what produces a situation that is so difficult, and why Paul had to warn Timothy. These are people who are in the Church, claiming to be Christians. They seem to have received the Gospel, but actually this condition is an intentional rejection and refusal of the truth.

In other words, the people who have a form of godliness and deny the power actually rejected the truth even though they profess it.

We are not talking about those who are ignorant and just need more teaching. We are not talking about those who are weak or immature and need to grow. We are not talking about those who might have a misunderstanding of doctrine and just need correction. We may find people in these conditions of ignorance, immaturity, or even with a misunderstanding of the Faith and we cannot label them as having a form of godliness that denies the power.

No, we are not talking about sincere people at all. We are talking about people who are pretentious. They are pretending to be something they are not when they actually have no interest in the real thing.

Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power are hypocrites. This is a word we hear a lot these days even from worldly people who are not professed Christians. The world has been smart enough to figure this out! Professed Christians are often labeled by the world as hypocrites and we have to admit that this is often true.

Hypocrisy is putting on a show. The word used to refer to the actors in a Greek play who wore masks. A hypocrite is an actor, wearing a mask to hide his true identity, while he or she becomes someone else. A hypocrite is a pretender, a liar, and a deceiver.

Jesus called the religious leaders of the Jews hypocrites. He also called them whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones, which I think is an excellent illustration of a form of godliness that denies the power. These are people who appear to be something that they are not. And if we consider Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of his day, we must conclude that there are few sins that make God angrier than hypocrisy.

The really disturbing thing is that this hypocrisy is often used as a cover for sin. Wickedness can be disguised in a religious cloak. The people Paul was describing to Timothy are outwardly religious, yet inwardly they are wicked people. These are people who have not repented of their sins but continue living in sin, while also practicing religion! These are people who think that their form of godliness is a license to continue in their wickedness.

We see this in the fact that professed Christians are often just as immoral, or maybe even more wicked, than those who make no profession of faith. We see it in those who want to be Christian yet openly homosexual. We see it in the terrible scandal in the Catholic Church and all of the predator, child-molesting priests. We see it in all of the greedy, worldly, mega-church pastors and TV preachers getting rich by pretending to be men of God. And we see it in the fact that the rate of sexual immorality, marital unfaithfulness, and divorce are just as common among professing Christians as in the world. All of this is evidence of a form of godliness that denies the power.

A Powerless Religion

Paul is warning Timothy about a spiritual condition or climate in the last days. This spiritual condition is that there will be people who have a form of godliness that denies the power. A form of godliness means that these people will outwardly appear to be religious, even wearing the name of Christ. Yet, they will deny the power of the truth. That is, they will actually reject the truth, yet still be professing to believe it. But what is this power that they will deny? I believe this is referring to the inward power of the truth of Christ that transforms the hearts and the lives of those who truly believe and receive it. To reject or deny this power means those who have a form of godliness must reject the source of this transforming power.

First, they reject the power of the Gospel. Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power have rejected the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1.16). If the Gospel is rejected then there can be no Divine power at work because God only works through the Gospel. The Gospel must be preached and believed for the power of God to be at work.

We know that it is possible to accept a different Gospel (Gal. 1.6-7). This happened even in the churches Paul himself had started so we know it can happen today. And it has happened today. There have been entire denominations that have completely rejected the Gospel.

There are those, for example, who have questioned the doctrine of sacrificial atonement and called that concept a pagan idea. So they have said that God really does not have wrath against sin and that Christ did not die to bear the penalty for our sin. That position is a complete and total rejection of the Gospel.

There are those who have embraced the belief in universalism – that everyone will be saved even if they have no personal faith in Christ and even if they reject Christ and follow another religion. This is a complete rejection of the Gospel which commands all people who hear the message to repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

And there are many who have not rejected any part of the Gospel but have simply added to it. This was the trouble Paul addresses in the letter to the Galatians. There were teachers there who came preaching that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved. These Jewish teachers probably did not teach anything that was against Christ. They simply said that faith in Christ was not sufficient and that there is something else you must do. This is the error of legalism! Legalism does not take away from the Gospel it adds requirements to the Gospel, which makes the power of the Gospel void.

I would also say a word about those who have accepted a social Gospel. The social Gospel is still with us today, though it may come wrapped in a new package. The social Gospel says that Jesus came to help the poor and to bring social change, justice, and equality. Sin is redefined as social inequality and salvation is a just society where everyone has enough to eat. This is a different Gospel that denies the power of the true Gospel! Jesus Himself refused to become an earthly king who fulfilled the people’s earthly appetites with earthly bread (See John 6).

But you don’t have to accept these false Gospels to deny the power of the real Gospel. You can also simply ignore the Gospel, remain ignorant of what the Gospel is, emphasize something else besides the Gospel, and you will have denied the power of the Gospel. If the institutional Church is powerless today it is because it has rejected or neglected the power of the Gospel!

Secondly, those who deny the power also reject the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as the body without the soul is dead, Christianity without the power of the Holy Spirit is nothing but a form of godliness that denies the power.

Jesus told His disciples to wait for the power of the Spirit before they went out preaching the Gospel (Acts 1.8). The life and witness of the Church are empowered by the presence of the Spirit. Without the Spirit there is no Church. If the institutional Church is powerless in its witness it is because it has rejected the Holy Spirit.

All of the confusion and controversy about the work of the Spirit in the institutional Church today may be evidence that the Spirit Himself has been rejected and is absent. We have Churches who almost seem to have never even heard of the Holy Spirit and act as if they are afraid of Him. And then we have Churches who think the Holy Spirit makes you fall down senseless on the floor and speak in a meaningless, unintelligible babble.

What are the true work and power of the Spirit? Jesus said that the Spirit causes us to be born again (John 3.3-5). Without this spiritual rebirth we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God. A form of godliness that denies the power of the Spirit is a religion without the New Birth. This means that the people have the dry, lifeless husk of religion and are going through the motions of ceremony and ritual without being born again. No amount of religious observance can replace being born of the Spirit. Paul is warning us in our text that a time will come when what is called the Church will be full of people who have never been born again.

The Spirit also gives us the power to overcome sin. It is by the Spirit that we mortify the sinful deeds of the body (Rom. 8.13). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power have rejected the power to subdue sin. Are we then surprised by the worldliness, carnality, and lack of holiness in the institutional Church? The power to live a godly and holy life has been rejected.

Even worldly people know that a person who claims to be a Christian yet is still dominated by sin is a contradiction. Yet the Church has come up with all kinds of ways to excuse this condition and mitigate the embarrassing effects of Church members who are powerless against temptation.

The modern Church has built a theology that allows people to continue being dominated by sin, yet still be saved. This is a doctrine of salvation that teaches justification but not sanctification. That is because the power to be sanctified, the Holy Spirit, has been denied and rejected.

What kind of salvation would leave us powerless against the very thing we are being saved from? God cannot accept people who are in the Flesh (Rom. 8.8). But the institutional Church today is filled with those who have a form of godliness yet deny the power of the Spirit of God.

Responding to this Powerless Religion

What are we supposed to do when we encounter such people? We are to avoid them. This agrees with what Paul taught elsewhere in his letters. You remember that at the Church in Corinth there was a man who had his father’s wife. That is, he was having an affair with his stepmother. Paul’s instructions to the Church were to remove this man from the fellowship (See 1 Cor. 5.1-13). Furthermore, Paul instructed the believers to avoid anyone who claimed to a believer, yet was an immoral person. Avoid those who profess the name of Christ yet live ungodly lives in opposition to that profession. These are people who have a form of godliness that denies the power.

We should be able to recognize the people who have a form of godliness that denies the power. Sometimes this is rather easy to do. A person who is a professing Christian, yet lives in an unrepentant and consistently immoral lifestyle, is to be avoided. A person who is a Christian may sin, but then repent. They are not to be avoided if they repent but are to be restored to fellowship. But a person who is deep-diving enthusiastically into sin is to be avoided as one having a form of godliness that denies the power.

Remember that we can only judge what we see. There are sins of the flesh, which are usually very easily seen. And there is a sin of the spirit, which is much harder to see. These sins of the spirit may actually be more serious than the sins of the flesh! We do not want to be judgmental and engage in witch-hunts, trying to uncover every fault and flaw in people. But a tree is known by its fruit.

One of the problems with the modern Church is the fact that many Church attenders remain anonymous. People can attend Church services and yet remain unconnected and unaccountable. In the traditional Church it is hard to know what is really going on in people’s lives. And many Church members prefer it that way! People think they can come to Church and then leave and live however they want to live.

But what if a person is not openly and defiantly immoral? How can we recognize a form of godliness that denies the power if there are not obvious sins of the flesh that we can see? In our text Paul gives several characteristics of people in this state.

First, they love self, money and pleasure rather than God and what is good (2 Tim 2.2-4). These kinds of people may not appear to be immoral. But their preferences are for something other than God and His Kingdom. And if given enough time, these preferences will be made manifest. Those who love the world cannot love God (1 John 2.15-17; James 4.4).

Secondly, these may be educated and intellectually sophisticated people. Paul says they are always learning, yet never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2.7). That is, they have knowledge but not the knowledge of God. Worldly wisdom is actually opposed to God, who reveals Himself in the foolishness of the Gospel (See 1 Cor. 1.21). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power will often be steeped in the wisdom of the world. So we should never be overly impressed just by someone’s education, knowledge, oratory, or intelligence – none of these things are indications of godliness.

Thirdly, they oppose the truth of God and the true people of God (2 Tim 2.8). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power can be recognized by how they oppose those who have the real thing! The greatest opponents of the people of God have always been religious people. So the best way to expose those who have a form of godliness that denies the power is for the true people of God to boldly speak the truth of the Word of God! That is what Paul had told Timothy to do so that it will then be obvious who has a form of godliness that denies the power and who has the real thing. (We should make sure that we are really speaking the truth in love and that we are not simply offending people by being unclear or unkind.)

We are equipped by the Word of God to be able to understand the times and know what to do. We are not helpless and the situation is not hopeless. Paul is writing to Timothy so he will understand the times and know what to do. Paul’s instructions put the Word of God at the center of young Timothy’s life and ministry. The Scripture is the key to the people of God being able to respond to these difficult times:

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

If we know the Word of God and how to use it we will be able to respond appropriately to these difficult times. We cannot afford to be ignorant of the Word of God today! If we handle the Scriptures correctly then we will be preaching Christ, which is perhaps the greatest need in our difficult times.

Summary and Conclusion

The trouble with all false and empty religion, including that which wears the name of Christ, is that it does not have the power to change the hearts of the people. All religious institutions, traditions, and observances that do not receive the Gospel of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit are nothing but forms of godliness that deny the power. Only the power of the Gospel and the work of the indwelling Spirit can transform the hearts of people. Unfortunately, an outward form of godliness that denies the power of an inward transformation is common in our time and it is to be avoided at all costs. That this spiritual condition exists in the Church is a sign of the last days and points to the imminent return of Christ.

It is unfortunate that the celebration of Christmas, the first advent of Christ, has actually become in our culture a form of godliness that denies the power. What I mean is that many people enjoy having a baby Jesus around – a Jesus lying helpless in a manger is not much of a threat to our plans. The Nativity Scene gives us a warm and sentimental feeling at Christmas. But a Jesus who is the exalted King of glory is disruptive to our little kingdoms! And so, there are many people who enjoy the Nativity of the infant Jesus will also deny what He was sent into the world to do and to be. But one of our favorite Christmas songs tells us the truth:

“Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room . . .”

Let us never settle for an empty form of godliness that denies the power of Christ to reign in our hearts and over our lives as the King He was born to be!

Love Not the World

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

As long as we are still in the world we can be tempted by it. This warning to not love the world is in the Scriptures to keep us alert. We dare not become overconfident and think that we are immune to the seduction of the world. The world is an arena of spiritual conflict where the children of God are opposed by many enemies. The world is one of these enemies, along with the Devil and our own sinful flesh that we still carry with us in the body. As long as we are in the body and in the world we have to be prepared for a struggle. The child of God must be suited up in the full armor of God (See Eph. 6.13-17). The world can tempt us in many different ways. Some of these temptations are subtle and may not appear at first to be a great danger. Sin often starts with a single, seemingly insignificant compromise. And the Devil has a way of disguising himself and his true intentions. Temptation always has an element of deception. Nobody would sin if they were not somehow deceived. The simple command to not love the world is designed to cut through any spiritual and moral fog in our minds.

The command to not love the world is backed by powerful incentives. The Word of God does not just give us commands that are to be obeyed without any explanation. God has a right to give us commands and He does not have to explain Himself. We are to obey without question even if we don’t fully understand the reasons. But God wants us to be mature and to be able to see the reasons for His commands. God always has our best interests in mind and He desires our ultimate good and blessing. The first incentive not to love the world is that we cannot love God if we also love the world. The world and God are opposed to each other and this makes it impossible for us to love both. We cannot serve two masters. Love for the world squeezes out love for God. Secondly, we should not love the world because the world is passing away. Why would we invest in a company that was going under? Why would we book passage on a sinking ship? Those who love the world will ultimately be in despair because they will lose all of the things they love. It is better to love and invest in what is eternal and cannot be taken from us. The final incentive not to love the world is so that we can live forever. Those who love the world will pass away with the world. Those who love God, and therefore obediently do His will, will inherit eternal life in the World to Come.

The world is all that is opposed to God. We are not speaking of the natural world or the created order. There is another world in view here. This is the world of sinful man in rebellion against God. Satan is the god of this world and he animates the world with the spirit of his cosmic rebellion against God. The world is actually opposed to God. This rebellious attitude of the world is expressed in the words of the second Psalm:

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3).

The pagan nations of the world are raging against God and seeking to throw off the authority of God and the King that God has enthroned, which is Jesus. The child of God lives in a world that is hostile to God. This is why the world is also opposed to the people of God and persecutes them. Jesus warned His disciples that the world would not love them:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

To love the world is to be an enemy of God (James 4.4). Those who claim to be believers yet love the world are liars. Those who were once believers who have fallen in love with the world again have committed spiritual adultery.

Loving the world is defined as inordinate desires that ultimately lead to pride. There are two kinds of desires or lusts: 1. The desires or lusts of the flesh. This is a desire for physical pleasure. It is a desire for the things of the world that make us comfortable and make us feel good. It includes but is not limited to sexual pleasures. 2. The desires or lusts of the eyes. These are aesthetic pleasures – the things of the world that we like to look at. These are the things that sparkle and shine. So John is covering all kinds of desires: the baser and less dignified lusts as well as the more cultured kind of sins. These desires are for the things of the world that give us pleasure of some sort. These are the things that people want and spend their energies trying to obtain. Some people obtain more things of the world than others, but it is the inordinate affection for these things that is wrong and not just owning the possessions. A person may be poor and yet still full of lust for what he does not possess. What John is describing is really the sin of greed or materialism. This is a form of idolatry that dominates the world. When we obtain some of the things we lust for then we have the pride of life. We feel a sense of satisfaction and security in our things instead of basing our hope on the living God.

Our affection for the world can only be expelled by a stronger and higher affection. It is impossible to get a person to stop loving the world simply with a commandment. A person who does not know God and does not believe the Gospel really has nothing else to love except for the things of this world and it is not reasonable to expect him to do anything else. If we are to stop loving the world and convince others to do the same, we must replace that affection for the things of the world with another, more powerful affection. The only affection that can displace a love for the world is the love of God. When we love God, we will lose our affection for the world. But how do we come to love God? We cannot love God simply because we are commanded to do so. We come to love God when we understand His great love for us, which is demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Only the Gospel has the power to change our hearts and cause us to love God. If you find that your heart is still in love with the things of this world then you need to have a better understanding of the Gospel of Christ. And when you see Christ you will love Him, even if that means losing the whole world!

Judging

“Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1)

This verse is often quoted by people today, usually when there is some kind of moral issue or dilemma that is being discussed. It is a good way to not take a stand on a controversial issue and thus avoid criticism while also winning points for being patient and tolerant. Tolerance has become the highest good in our culture. The only thing that we will not tolerate is intolerance! Being judgmental is the opposite of being tolerant. Tolerance is almost always associated with love while being judgmental is associated with hatred and bigotry. It is assumed that at the root of all racism, sexism, homophobia and violence is the intolerance that comes from hatefully judging others. We of course must acknowledge that people do hate each other and that this hatred does often erupt in violence. Obviously there is a kind of judgment that is destructive and evil which is not tolerated by the Lord and therefore should not be tolerated by men. It is always wise to define our terms and know what we are talking about. And when we look more closely at what it means to judge something or someone, and why Jesus forbade a certain kind of judging of others, we are going to be in for a bit of a surprise.

The ability to make judgments is indispensable in life. The fact is that we make judgments on a daily basis. We must do this in order to survive and to make wise decisions. Whatever we might say about the evils of judging others, there are people out there that we would immediately judge and intentionally avoid. If someone appeared to be threatening and potentially harmful we would judge that person unsafe and avoid them at all costs. We spend a lot of time judging others to make sure that they are safe and trustworthy. Of course, our judgments can be wrong. We might mistakenly think that a person is harmful who might be quite friendly. We make these mistakes because we often make quick judgments that are based on feelings and perceptions rather than on facts. To make a true and right judgment we must have the facts. Even if we have the facts, we must be able to correctly interpret these facts. Some facts may be missing so that we do not have a full and clear picture of the truth. Before we make a judgment we should at least be willing to get as many facts as we can and not judge something or someone prematurely. That being said, we can never dispense with the need to make judgments about many things, particularly other people.

We can only judge what we can see. We cannot judge the heart or the motives. And we cannot see the end to be able to make the final judgment. If having the facts is necessary to making the right judgement, it should be obvious to us that when we judge others we are really judging what we hear and see. We judge actions and words. Of course, we may still misunderstand or misinterpret what someone does or says. We might hear someone say something and we judge it to be offensive, when the person actually had no malice toward us at all. On the other hand we can be deceived by soft and flattering words from someone who is actually plotting our demise! Therefore, we must not be hasty in our judgments of others. We need to wait until we see all the evidence before drawing conclusions. We should allow people to be innocent until proven guilty by their deeds. Of course, a person might change. This is why we can never make the final judgment of a person’s eternal destiny. As long as they are alive there is the possibility of change. Only God knows the end. Nothing is completely nailed down, at least from this side of eternity.

There are people who cannot and should not make judgments of others. And now we are coming closer to what the Lord Jesus meant in the Sermon on the Mount when He forbade us to judge others. The ones enthusiastically quoting the verses about not judging others usually have no idea about the context of these words. As someone has said, “a text without a context is just a pretext.” That is, we can make the Bible mean almost anything we want if we are not interested in what the author or speaker was actually intending. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus also said: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6). This verse almost immediately follows the command not to judge. But this raises an important question: if we are not to judge others then how are we to tell who are the dogs and pigs? Jesus is not literally speaking of animals here, but of certain kinds of people. It sounds like a judgment to come to the conclusion that a person is a pig or a dog in their character! So Jesus must not have forbidden all judgments. What is Jesus saying? There is another clue in the surrounding verses. Jesus asks some penetrating questions:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

This seems to be the key to the entire discussion of making judgments of others. If you cannot see, you cannot judge! Our own sins cause spiritual blindness making it impossible for us to properly see and judge the character of other people. But notice that Jesus does not say that this means we can never judge others. We must first be able to see, which means dealing with our own faults first. And then the whole purpose of being able to see the faults of others is so that we can help them. In other words, our judging of others is to bring healing and not further hurt to their lives.

God is a judge, yet He is also merciful and seeks the salvation and ultimate good of all people. Jesus did not come to judge the world, but to save it. I am sure that Jesus was speaking a word against the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law, those religious leaders of the Jews who had only an external appearance of righteousness. These religious leaders were not helping to heal the people but were only causing further harm. In speaking to His disciples in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expects a righteousness that goes beyond mere appearances. Jesus expects His disciples to make righteous judgments based on truth and with a view toward bringing healing and salvation to the world. If we are to be sons of God, we must be righteous. This means we must be able to discern the difference between what is good and what is evil. This is exactly what it means to judge. But unless our own eyes are open, being illuminated with the light and truth of God, we cannot judge anything correctly. When we are enlightened, we first repent and deal with our own sins. In other words, we judge ourselves! Those who are not willing to first become their own judge are simply not able to correctly judge anyone else and will eventually come under the final judgment of Divine scrutiny.

Loving the Praise of God

John 12.43

The Christian poet, John Donne, was absolutely correct when he wrote that

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

We were created for community. It is natural for us to seek friendship and acceptance by others. But if this good thing is made into an ultimate thing, then it becomes an idol. The result is that we base a tremendous amount of our confidence and self-worth on what we think other people think about us. We feel great when people say good things to us and we are devastated when they criticize us. So we are basing our confidence on the acceptance of our chosen circle of friends, or constantly feeling insecure, distrustful, and isolated from others.

If people were honest, they would have to admit that this desire to be accepted by other people, often at any price, is really born of fear. Truth is, we are afraid that other people will reject us, cast us out, and speak evil about us. Perhaps the greatest fear is the fear of isolation and loneliness. Most people fear other people more than they fear the living God. The reason for this should be obvious: being accepted by others provides us with instant, tangible gratification. Being praised by an invisible God is not nearly as satisfying! So most people would choose the praise of their fellows over the silent applause of an invisible deity.

The applause of the crowd is to many people a kind of narcotic. It is a high they cannot live without. And this addiction to the praise of men is just as powerful in the religious world as it is in the secular world. In fact, the Babylonian Church has its rock stars and celebrities just like Hollywood! In Hollywood fame can be hard to get and even harder to keep. The praise of men is often short-lived: they might praise you one moment and reject you the next! Even if we were to gain the praise of the whole world, we would have nothing but dust in the wind. This world is passing away, along with its lusts.

People have a tendency to try to have the best of both Worlds – the favor of this World AND to somehow make it into the World to Come. It seems to me that this tendency is being addressed by John in his Gospel. You really can’t have the best of both Worlds because these two Worlds are in opposition to one another: being from two completely different sources, and having two different destinies. A choice must be made, and John wants to show us clearly the nature of this choice. In his writings John often uses these stark contrasts to teach us the nature of spiritual reality. Our culture wants to see everything in shades of grey. Maybe we won’t have to make a choice after all! John does not give us this option. For example, the contrast of light and darkness runs through this context:

“The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:35-36).

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46).

The light is always associated with God. Darkness is to be in a state of alienation from God. Jesus said there are some who actually prefer the Darkness to the Light because of their evil deeds (John 3.19-21). In other words, they love their sin instead of loving God and they choose to remain in the darkness of alienation from God. The choice between Light and Darkness is a choice between God or anything else. Those who stay in the Darkness of alienation are choosing to do so because there is something else they want more than they want God.

Light and Darkness includes deeply moral definitions, having to do with how we live and the things that we do. This is not just a theological or philosophical abstraction. We live in the Light or we live in the Darkness in very real, concrete ways.

A concrete application of living either in Light or in Darkness is the choice between pursuing the praise of men or pursuing the praise of God. The implication is that those who pursue the praise of men are living in the Darkness. They are doing so because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. This choice not to come to the Light is solidified by not believing in or following Jesus, who is the very personification of the Light. Our true attitude toward God is always manifested by our response to the Son of God. John’s Gospel teaches us that Jesus and the Father are one. We cannot reject the Son while honoring the Father. We cannot be in the Light while rejecting the very source of that Light.

The Jews thought they were in the Light because they claimed to know and serve God. But they were actually in the Darkness, even as they went about the practice of their religion! Religion does not give light. The practice of religion should not be confused with being in the Light. It is possible to hide from God while still being religious. The issue is not the practice of religion but what we do with Jesus. If we want to live in the Light we will come to Jesus. If we don’t come to Jesus then we are still in Darkness no matter what else we might do. So there is this choice between Light and Darkness. We must make a choice!

There is also the contrast of faith with unbelief. The choice can be Light and Darkness or faith and unbelief. Believing is to come into the Light. To disbelieve is to remain in the Darkness. Unfortunately, we have oversimplified what it means to believe in Jesus. Is the definition of believing in Jesus simply intellectual assent to certain facts? Are we believers simply because we believe in the historical Jesus? We have made belief a relatively easy thing.  Many people claim to believe in Jesus. What does this mean? Well, this is not a new problem but is addressed by the Scriptures.

In fact, John is addressing what it really means to believe in Jesus. This all comes to a burning focus as Jesus’ public ministry ends and the time of His glorification is at hand. Believing in Jesus can only be properly understood in connection with what John calls His glorification, or His death.

Jesus had performed many miraculous signs, including raising Lazarus from the dead. As you might expect, this caused Jesus’ popularity to increase. But as His popularity with the people increased, so did the hatred and jealousy of the religious leaders. I think the issue John is dealing with here is what all of these professed believers of Jesus will do when the authorities begin turning up the heat of opposition! Belief cannot be tested in the midst of success and popularity. What we really believe is proven in the fire of tribulation. There were those who jumped on the Jesus Bandwagon after the raising of Lazarus whose belief would be tested when the religious leaders began to go after Jesus. The belief of the people had no room for suffering, yet this was exactly what Jesus was preparing to endure Himself! There is something wrong with following a Suffering Savior and not being willing to suffer. Those who seek the praise of men over the praise of God have a deficient faith because they are not willing to suffer with Christ.

There are those who have a pretentious faith and will believe only if it is personally advantageous to them. But as soon as there is a cost, an inconvenience, or some pain, they are nowhere to be found. For these would-be disciples the World still holds their allegiance and love and so what the World thinks about them is the main thing.

Confessing Jesus only when it is personally convenient is really unbelief. I know it might seem confusing and contradictory for me to say this when the text says that there were some who believed, yet they would not confess Him publicly. Does it not say they believed, at least in some sense? Is this not at least an immature faith or maybe a weak faith, but still faith?

There is a kind of Divine footnote here. There is an explanation for this condition. It was because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. I hold that John is showing us that this is a sham faith.  It is not the real deal. And we are to learn from this that there are people who will make a profession of faith only when and if it is personally convenient for them and costs them nothing and that this kind of faith is an empty profession because it does not do what real faith does. In other words, saying you have faith does not make it a reality. Faith is known by its actions and its fruit. Faith without works is dead, or ineffectual, powerless, hollow, and hypocritical. To love the praise of men more than the praise of God is a condition that makes it impossible to have true faith. This kind of faith cannot save because it is not real faith. For a time, until the trouble comes, it may look like faith. But it will wither under the heat of opposition from the World.

The kind of faith in Jesus that does save, that is the real thing, is a faith that loves the praise of God more than the praise of man and is therefore willing to accept the rejection of the World and whatever tribulations may come as a result of following Jesus. Generally speaking, we are willing to endure certain hardships and inconveniences for the things or the people who have our hearts. But the things that I do not value are not worth any sacrifice, pain, or suffering. I can easily eliminate those things from my life that I do not value. But what I love I will hang on to and you will not be able to force it out of my hands! If I love the praise of God, then there is no price I will not pay to have it. So there is a connection between faith and love, between belief and values. We value what we believe. So faith is not purely intellectual, it is also in the heart.

What we believe in is measured by what we love. A person may say they believe in something, yet they have no real love and affection invested there. This would be like a person saying that he believes very strongly in the growth of a certain company on Wall Street, yet he refuses to buy any of their stock. I don’t think he really believes in that company because he is not investing something in it. Even so, a person might claim to believe in Jesus, yet there is no personal investment. That is not belief. That is just talk.

I am afraid there are many people who claim to be Christians who really just have some kind of intellectual assent to a doctrine and no real, personal investment in Christ Himself. They don’t love Jesus. He is not real to them. That is not faith that is philosophy. There are people who have a Christian philosophy of life, but they do not love Christ. These are the people who probably talk a lot about Christianity, the Church, and the need for world missions and evangelism. Beware of people who talk about Christianity more than they talk about Christ! This is similar to people who are always talking about marriage, but not about their spouses. At some point you have to stop talking about marriage as an abstract idea and just love your spouse! (There are many similarities between marriage and our relationship with God. We are the Bride of Christ!)

Faith also has to work its way down from your head to your heart and you have to start actually loving God. Faith in God is love for God. Loving God is also loving the praise of God. Here is the mark of a true believer and a true disciple of Jesus – their whole goal in life is to be praised by God because they love God more than anything else.

The praise of God is not the praise we give to God but the praise God will give to men. Men should praise God, but there is coming a time in the future when God will actually praise people! (Praise is the recognition and proclamation of the deeds or the virtues of a person. The opposite of praise would be to criticize and to pick someone apart and find their faults.) This will happen on the Day of Judgment that has been appointed by God and to which every person will be summoned. On that Day, and not before, everyone will be either praised by God, the result of which is eternal glory and joy, or criticized by God, the result of which is eternal sorrow and ruination.

God knows the truth of what is in the hearts of men and this will be fully revealed, though it is often hidden from us now. God is not just going to judge works, He is going to judge men’s hearts, or their motives, for doing what they did. In other words, what if outwardly you did certain good things, but you didn’t do it for God? Will you get praise from God for those things? I think not. It would not be right if you did because God’s praise was not what you really wanted anyway. I believe there will be some very moral and very religious people in Hell! God looks at the heart and judges the motive. The right thing done with the wrong motive does not count! We should not just be afraid of doing the wrong thing, we should be afraid of doing the right thing for the wrong reason! Having the outward appearance in order is not enough for God because God also looks at the heart. And so Paul says that

“a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:29).

God cannot be fooled like men can be fooled. Men look only on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. For God it all begins with what you love, which is what you really want. Jesus spoke extensively on this subject in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

Jesus then goes on to give three examples of religious works: giving, praying and fasting. Jesus says we should do these things, but we should do them in secret, and not for the praise of men:

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:2-4).

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6)

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18).

The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is that external righteousness, like that of the Scribes and Pharisees, is not good enough. Sin is a heart problem and not just a behavior problem. True righteousness must therefore come from a renovated heart that loves God. Everything here must be viewed in a religious context. These are not people doing wicked things. These were people doing religious things, but doing them for the wrong reasons – for the praise of men rather than God. This is a temptation for every religious person and for every religious group – to do the right things only for other people to see rather than for God. Notice there is no out given so that we can simply stop doing religious things. We are to do these things, but for God, not for men! God will judge your heart, your motives, and He will reward you by giving you what you really want. Praise from God will be for those who love God, which was the motivation for everything they did, pursuing only the praise of their heavenly Father.

Having the praise of God is actually what the New Testament calls the hope of glory. Perhaps some people have trouble understanding what the Bible means when it promises believers eternal glory.

The kind of glory promised to believers is something similar to what happens in the world when a person has an unusual talent or who accomplishes something that is difficult or amazing. This person receives glory, praise, or fame. They are recognized and celebrated. What the Scripture is teaching us is that at some point in the future God is going to look at some people and give them glory, or praise. He is going to recognize them and He will actually take pleasure in what He sees! There are some people to whom God will say “well done, good and faithful servant!” And then these people will be celebrated for eternity, enjoying the pleasure of God forever, and being welcomed into His eternal Kingdom with great joy. (Some people have said we should not seek glory and praise for ourselves, that this leads to pride and is selfish. And they are right, if God is not the object of our affection. I can’t be proud if I humbly seek God’s approval and I can’t be selfish if I desire what God made me to desire. It can never be wrong to seek praise and glory from God, because He made us for Himself. To seek any other glory is idolatry.)

In his magnificent sermon called “The Weight of Glory” C.S. Lewis eloquently describes this glory or praise from God, as well as the horrible alternative:

“The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory meant good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”

“In some sense, as dark to the intellect as it is unendurable to the feelings, we can be both banished from the presence of Him who is present everywhere and erased from the knowledge of Him who knows all. We can be left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. On the other hand, we can be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. We walk every day on the razor edge between these two incredible possibilities.”

The ultimate desire of every believer is to have this praise and glory from God. But we will have to wait for it. At some point in the future, we do not know when, our Creator will summon us to stand before Him and He will inspect us. Some will fail that inspection and be forever rejected. Some will pass the inspection, not because of anything they did on their own, but because of God’s grace. We are His workmanship. He is making us praiseworthy. Your job is to let Him do His work in you – preferring what He wants above every other temporal pleasure, so that you can be happy forever in His presence.

Why Do the Nations Rage?

Psalm 2; Acts 4:23-31

Why do the nations rage? (“Nations” can also be translated as “heathen.” These are the unbelieving nations of the world who don’t know the God of Israel.) The world always seems to be in a state of restlessness and upheaval, like a storm-tossed sea. The world as a troubled sea is a Biblical image of unrest caused by ungodliness:

“But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21). 

The Psalmist says that it is only the Lord

who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples (Psalm 65:7)

In commenting on Psalm 65, Augustine says: “For the sea, by a figure, is used to indicate this world, with its bitter saltiness and troubled storms, where men with perverse and depraved appetites have become like fishes devouring one another.” In the Confessions Augustine also says: “thou dost curb the wicked lusts of men’s souls and fix their bounds: how far they are allowed to advance, and where their waves will be broken against each other – and thus thou makest it a sea, by the providence of thy governance of all things.” In other words, just as God sets the boundaries for the oceans of the world, He also reigns and rules over the nations of the world, setting limitations for how far the wickedness of man may go.

So the wicked world is raging like a restless, foaming sea! And until our voyage is over, we have to ride the waves and weather the storms of life in this world. Be prepared! The forecast calls for more storms!

There are times of peace and calm, yet these never seem to last very long. Have you found life to be something like an unpredictable sea, one that is calm in one moment and stormy the next? We often feel like the disciples on the storm-tossed sea of Galilee, with Jesus asleep in the boat: “Lord, don’t you care that we are going to drown?”

Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?

Jesus calls us over the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless, sea

The nations continue to rage. Men are searching for peace but cannot seem to find it. Some seek it through politics, some through religion, some through economics. And some seek peace through inner reflection and psychology. People often try to find peace through some kind of escapism, or denial and detachment from reality. Everyone who tries drugs and alcohol is really looking for an escape or a sedative.

Why does the world today seem to be raging out of control? We see images of the chaos in the news every day. We see the war, pain, suffering, oppression, and death in the world. And all of this misery is caused by man, though in their insolence men often blame God for the state of the world! We do not want to pine for the good ole days, but there seems to have been a significant moral and spiritual degeneration in our culture in this generation. People do things today that the last generation would be ashamed to even talk about. People dive into sin with gusto, and they are proud of their sin. You can be a pervert now and be admired, maybe even have your own show!

Why? That is the first word in the text and it is still the great question of the world today. This situation is not new. Why is the world the way it is? Only the Word of God has the answer to this question. Worldly wisdom does not have the answer to this crucial question about human life. Modern man with all of his science and technology does not have the answers to the human condition. Worldly wisdom can make observations about what is seen and the way things are, but they cannot look deeper to find the cause. The whole problem of evil and suffering is a particular stumbling block to the modern mind. Modern man holds the position that men are basically good – so where does evil come from? They have no answer. The world does not have the answers to these questions because it has rejected the Word of God.

The Source of the World’s Raging (Psalm 2.1-3)

This Psalm reveals that behind this restlessness in the world is a desire and an intentional effort to do away with the authority of God. I am not by nature a conspiracy theorist, unless the Word of God reveals that a conspiracy actually exists! There IS a conspiracy in the World, and it goes up to the highest levels of power. The World and its rulers do not want God around and they are doing everything they can to get rid of Him.

The World seldom objects to religion. Religion, including institutional Christianity, is really just an extension of the World and its values. But the World will not tolerate the living God, His Law, and His Word. It is not that the world objects to the discussion of ideas about God. We can talk about God, as long as it is purely theoretical and lacks any real, concrete definitions. But the last thing they want is someone speaking in absolutes, or telling other people what they must believe about God. This kind of absolutism will not be tolerated today. You can entertain any private theory about God you want, but don’t tell anyone else what to believe!

So people create their own gods, in their own image. Men today are really worshiping themselves. We have about six billion people on this planet who all want to be God, and this is bound to cause trouble!

1. A Vain Thing (v. 1)

Of course, God will not be gotten rid of so easily. All of the world’s plans are ultimately vain, especially this plan to get rid of God. Now you have to come up to get a higher view to see this, because it often looks like the plans of the world are quite successful. The Psalmist is a Man of God, and he can see the truth about the world and its schemes. “The peoples plot a vain thing.” Or as someone else has said: “Man proposes and God disposes.”

Even Solomon knew that everything that is under the sun, or what is done by man, is vanity, which is just a lot of hard work that ultimately comes to nothing. The history of the human race is like someone riding a stationary bike. They pedal the stationary bike like mad, get tired, die and fall off the bike, only to be replaced by a new generation that didn’t learn anything from the previous one and starts pedaling all over again. Every generation rages against God, dies, and gives birth to a new generation that rises to do the same thing! The world has always been raging. This is the world – life under the sun – as Solomon in his earthly wisdom could correctly observe. Other thinkers have seen it too.

William Shakespeare put this truth about human life in the mouth of one of his characters in Macbeth: “Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." What is life in the world like, apart from God? It is “full of sound and fury”–the nations are raging against God–but it amounts to nothing. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot a vain thing?” The question is meant to be rhetorical. Why live as if there is no God? It is a vain thing to do! Apart from God, life amounts to nothing.

2. Freedom from God (v. 3)

But the world has a reason for its anti-God agenda. The world views God and His Law as a restriction, keeping them from doing what they want. This is the meaning of “let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3).

God is viewed as a harsh taskmaster or a cosmic killjoy, who wants to tie man down, make him a prisoner or a slave, and keep man from really pursuing his own happiness. This is exactly why so many people today say they do not want to become Christians: there are just too many rules and restrictions. Man wants to be free to pursue his own desires. But there is God with His Law ruining all of man’s enjoyment and expression. This is at the heart of the nature of man, or what Paul calls the Flesh:

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8). 

Children rage against their parents because the children want to have their way, and the parents stand in their way. When kids get a little older and leave their parent’s home, going off to college, we say that they want to sow their wild oats – do everything they want to do that their parents kept them from doing!

One of the great values of our Age is our so-called freedom, which is understood as the ability to pursue every desire without restriction, especially from religion or from a domineering and interfering deity! There are things that people want to do and God simply gets in their way, so God must go away! This is true on an individual level and on a societal level. Our society does not want God to stand in the way of progress! They do not want to hear the Word or the Law of God, telling them what to do, or that their behavior is wrong and will have consequences. The perfect example of this is the present campaign for the acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

One of Satan’s oldest lies whispered in the ears of humanity is that God is trying to keep you down and is refusing to allow you some wonderful blessing or experience. This is what the serpent said to Eve:

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). 

The lie is that God cannot be trusted. God is not good and does not have your best interests in mind. You must take matters into your own hands and break free from this ogre we call God! And man believes the lie!

But the authority of God is benevolent – it is for the ultimate good of man – which makes the world’s raging against God irrational. God is the source of everything that is good. This means that man needs God and cannot live without Him. We are not self-sufficient but are dependent. That was the real lesson of Eden. With God there is life. Without God there is nothing but death. Death is nothingness: separation from the Source of life itself.

Why would man want to be separate from God? Sin is a form of insanity. But at the root of all sin is unbelief. Man does not really believe in the goodness of God and is convinced that the consequences of being without God are really not all that bad, and may actually be advantageous. As John Milton said in his epic poem, Paradise Lost, the mantra of the damned is “better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”

The great tragedy of human history is that man has refused the only thing that can really help him. Imagine a hospital ward filled with cancer patients. The doctor announces that a cure has been found! But the patients will not trust the doctor and refuse to receive the healing! That is the madness of the world that continues to rage against God and refuse the only one who could save them.

3. Opposition to God’s Anointed (vs. 2)

God came into a world that was raging against Him, in the person of Christ. He left heaven, humbling Himself as a man, and making Himself vulnerable to the hatred of the world. How the world really feels about God was seen in how it treated the Son of God. The world was face to face with God, and they condemned Him to die! All of the world’s raging against God came to a burning focus in Jesus.

Both the religious and the political establishments rejected Jesus. In fact, they worked together to get rid of Jesus, coming together in a rare act of cooperation against a common enemy. Jesus did not fit the agenda of the religious leaders and he even posed a possible threat to their position, so they conspired against him. Jesus and His Kingdom were mocked by the authority of Rome as an insignificant nuisance. Pilate washed his hands and refused to be troubled by this Galilean, sending him to Herod, his political rival. Herod mocked him and sent him back, and the two actually became friends after they both had done away with the nuisance Jesus and they at last had something in common! In a final act of mockery and revenge on the Jews for bothering him, Pilate inscribed a sign above Jesus’ head as He hung dying: “The King of the Jews.” Pilate was saying “this is what I think of you Jews and your pathetic king!”

There are those today who, like the Jewish leaders, have an intense hatred for Jesus and want to get rid of him, seeing him as a threat to their own, little kingdoms.  There are also those, like Pilate and Herod, who have so little esteem for him that they will not waste any of their time listening to him, choosing to simply set him aside, as someone would scrape a bug off their windshield, and then go about their business as if nothing had happened.

The world is still rejecting Jesus. And when you reject the Son of God you are rejecting the Father. There may be many things the world disagrees about, but when it comes to their hatred for God and His Christ they are united.

4. Opposition to God’s People (Acts 4.23-31)

The experience of the early Church reveals that the world is also in opposition to the people of God. When the early Church was persecuted by the Jews for the first time – the same people who had killed the Lord – they got together to pray and they remembered Psalm 2! The Jews had always believed that Psalm 2 was a prophecy about the Messiah. The early Christians saw that Psalm 2 had been fulfilled!

The world could no longer persecute Jesus directly, but it could persecute His Body! Now the hatred of the world for God, once focused in Jesus, is turned on the Church. And the Church should not be surprised by the animosity from the World. Jesus said it would happen. The only thing we really need to be concerned about is the world’s friendship, not its hatred! In some of His final moments with His closest disciples, Jesus warned them about the world’s hatred so they would be prepared for it and not be caught unawares. We should understand the world’s attitude toward God and His Christ and expect opposition. We should heed this warning, which is almost a commentary on the second Psalm:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” (John 15:18-25). 

There seems to be so little in the institutional Church today that the World could actually persecute! The Church has shaken hands with the World and become friends, which is a very dangerous position! To be the World’s friend is to be an enemy of God. It is impossible to really serve God while also courting the favor and approval of the World. If we love the World and its pleasures, we cannot love God (1 Jn. 2.15-17). The world has not changed and cannot ever be changed. We are to come out of the World, to be separate, and refuse all the seductive advances of the Great Whore of Babylon (Revelation 17.1-6).

Our best defense against the World and its opposition is prayer. We go to the Throne of God in our time of need, acknowledging that above all the tumult and raging of the nations, is our Father in Heaven.

God’s Response to the World’s Raging (Psalm 2.4-9)

1. God Laughs at the Wicked (v. 4)

How does the one seated on the Throne view all the raging of the nations? He laughs! This is a laugh of scorn for all the pathetic attempts of wicked men to overthrow His reign. It would be much easier to try to move the earth itself than to move the Lord from His Throne! One writer said that “the Throne of God is the central fact of all Biblical revelation.” God’s sovereignty is THE absolute upon which all truth is built. We build our lives and our hope on the Throne of God:

“A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12)”. 

“The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever” (Psalm 29:10). 

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne (Revelation 4:2).

When we have the right view of God all of the evil in the world seems pathetically small. Wicked man cannot do all that he would. Man does not have a free will to do whatever he chooses to do! The very thought is absurd to anyone who knows anything about the Scriptures! The whole world once gathered together against God to build themselves a city. And God laughed at them and scattered them in His wrath!

2. God Raised and Exalted Christ (v. 6-9)

And then the world gathered together against the Lord’s Christ. They condemned Him to die. They thought they had gotten rid of the Son of God! They even put Him in a tomb and rolled a stone in front of the entrance, just to make sure He stayed in the grave. But God laughed and raised Him from the dead! Jesus is currently reigning over this world in spite of the world’s objections to His authority. The resurrection was God’s vindication of Christ and His overthrow of the world’s schemes.

Jesus has been exalted to a place where He can no longer be seen by the World, but is only seen by the faith which comes through the preaching of the Gospel, until He comes again in power and glory for the judgment of the world (Acts 17.31). Jesus will destroy all these nations that are now raging against God and against His reign. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). Paul is alluding to another Messianic Psalm:

The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies! (Psalm 110:1-2)

Jesus is ruling in order to bring many sons to Glory through this present, evil world. We need an exalted Savior to get us through this raging, hostile world all the way to the Throne of God. This is the saving power that God

worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:20-23).

God has a plan for His people and nothing can stop it! Nothing in this world, not even the god of this world which is Satan himself, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can calm the troubled sea that is our world. There will come a time when there will be no troubled sea and the world will finally be at rest (Rev. 21.1).

We are to live with that confidence, knowing that our faith overcomes the world because Jesus has overcome the world. And He will deliver us out of this raging world that is like a troubled sea so we can one day stand before the Throne of God on a sea of glass, peaceful and calm forever (Rev. 15.2). If we stay with Jesus He will bring us all the way from this world to glory because God has set His King on Zion!

God’s Final Words to a Raging World (Psalm 2.10-12)

Americans have trouble with passages like this Psalm because we have trouble with kings. The idea of someone who has absolute power seems to us like the greatest form of evil in the world! We believe, being children of the Enlightenment, that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We believe that absolute power is to be resisted at all costs!

If we don’t like those in authority, we just vote them out of office. But there is no voting in the Kingdom of God. God has already cast His vote for His Son. And God’s vote is the only vote that counts.

1. A Gracious Offer (vs. 10-12)

The Gospel is really a royal proclamation from the Throne of God that He has made Jesus His King and every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Now is the time to bow the knee to Christ. If we bow the knee now, during the Day of Salvation, we will receive the King’s mercy and grace. In those countries that have kings it is customary to get down on one knee and kiss the king’s ring on his hand. Kiss the Son! Jesus is holding out His hands to the nations of the world. We can bow and kiss His hand and serve Him, making peace with Him, or we can declare war on Him and fight against His authority. That is a fight that we will lose.

But the Church carries the message to the world to be reconciled to God through Christ:

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). 

To be reconciled means to make peace where there was once enmity. God has made peace with the world that is raging against Him. We preach this peace, offering men a way to stop their raging against God. We are in the final stage of history, which is a space for repentance and salvation. God has provided a shelter from His own wrath. Christ is the only safe place to hide from the wrath of God that is to come on the world. So let us be at peace with Him now so that Day will bring our salvation and not our destruction.

2. A Stern Warning (v. 12)

But the time for making peace will not last forever. The unrepentant world is storing up wrath (Rom 2.5). Jesus will come to this world again, not as a humble baby in a manger, but

in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

As long as the world keeps up its raging God’s wrath and anger is rising like water behind a dam. Someday the dam will burst and the wrath of God will flood this world. Then the people of the world will call for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6.15-17). But there will be no place to hide.

In light of this coming Day of Wrath God's people should be bold and speak the Gospel no matter what the world says. When the early Church prayed, after being persecuted by the world, they prayed that God would look on their enemies, and consider their threats, and that they would have boldness to continue speaking the Word of God, which is the Gospel! We should not let the threats of the world intimidate us. We should only fear God, not men. What can men do to us, after they have killed the body? But we must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of our deeds (2 Cor. 5.10). So while we are still in this raging world let us not be afraid of the world, but let us “serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”

Preparing for Persecution

1 Peter 4:12-19

Most of our failures in life come as the result of our not being properly prepared for some situation. There was a problem that we had not considered. Something broke that we had thought to be unbreakable. Perhaps we were overconfident in our abilities, but when the true test came we were not really prepared like we thought we would be. There is perhaps nothing more frightening than coming to the moment of crisis and realizing that you do not have the answer. There are some moments we cannot do over again and the failure is something we must live with for the rest of our lives.

The Lord does not reveal to us what will happen tomorrow and what kind of trouble we will face. We do not know what a day will bring! It is nearly impossible to prepare for every scenario or situation that life may bring our way. And we should not sit and worry about tomorrow, letting our imaginations run wild.

But there are some situations that are known ahead of time, and for these we must be prepared. To fail to prepare for these situations is foolish and slothful.

This is especially true if the Scriptures warn us about the possibility of facing a certain situation, test, or trial. To fail to prepare for these things is evidence of unbelief – we don’t prepare because we don’t believe the Word of God applies to our situation.

Many Christians in the Western World think this way about persecution. That could never happen to us here! We are protected by the freedom of religion. Stories of persecution belong either to the distant past or to some Third World country.

But the times are changing. The West is Christian no longer. In fact, our society is growing more and more hostile to Biblical Christianity. And the freedom that man gives men can take away.

I do not think that most professed Christians in our society would stand up under the heat of persecution. The kind of Christianity we are seeing today does not prepare people for persecution.

But we must also give some thought to our own faith. How can we prepare for persecution?

The Theme of First Peter

The epistle of First Peter was written for this very purpose. The theme of suffering as a Christian runs through every chapter. Peter was writing at a time when the Roman government was beginning to be hostile toward Christians. Nero was Caesar, ruling with absolute power, and he would make many politicians today seem like shining lights of virtue. Most secular historians think that Nero was literally insane. He wanted to do some building in Rome, but there were some structures already standing where he wanted to build. So, he simply set them on fire. Legend has it that he played his violin while he watched the city burn. He then blamed the Christians for starting the fire. This began one of the very first systematic persecutions against Christians conducted by Rome.

This persecution would eventually claim the lives of both Peter and Paul. It is said that Paul died by beheading, because he was a Roman citizen. But Peter was to be crucified. Peter did not want to die exactly as Jesus had died, feeling unworthy, so he requested that they crucify him upside-down.

One of the last things Jesus had said to Peter was concerning how Peter would die.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me” (John 21:18-19).

And Peter did follow the Lord, even unto death! That is the man writing this epistle to prepare believers to endure persecution.

How does Peter go about this task?

Believers are Exiles and Sojourners

He reminds believers that they are not at home in this world. Peter addresses his letter to the elect exiles (1.1), and then refers to them as sojourners and exiles (1 Pet 2.11). An exile or a sojourner is someone who is not in his home country, but is just a visitor. Being an exile means that we prefer our true homeland. And being a sojourner means that we are on a journey to that true home. God’s people have always been exiles and sojourners in the world. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents in the Promised Land, depicting the sojourning of the Faithful through this world (Hebrews 11:9-10, 13).

Our physical bodies are like tents – temporary dwellings that we will one day fold up and trade in for a permanent, heavenly body. The people of God recognize that they have no lasting city here that they can call home. The City of Man is not our home. We are waiting for the City of God. There are two different societies of people in this world. We are out of place here in this world and are waiting for a New World that is to come, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet 3.13).

Believers must begin to think of themselves this way, which will clarify many of our trials. We should reason that if this is not our true home, then we cannot expect to always be happy here. We should not expect our desires to be fulfilled here. Exiles and sojourners are not always welcomed or treated well by the inhabitants of the land. Our customs, values, and lifestyle are not the same as those of the City of Man. We should not expect peace and welcome in this world because it is not our home.

If we do not think this way then we will not understand persecution when it comes.

Believers are to be Holy

Or, we may be tempted to just blend in with the City of Man and avoid the persecution entirely. But the Apostle has also told believers to be holy or separate from the world:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile (1 Peter 1:14-17). 

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:11-12).

. . . but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15-16).

This is to be done so that we are above reproach and our enemies will have nothing to say against us. Being holy does not mean you will not have enemies. In fact, you may have even more! But we should be like Daniel, whose enemies had nothing against him unless they invented a charge.

Believers have a Powerful Enemy

Behind all of our suffering in the world is the Enemy of our souls! Satan is pursuing God’s people while we are in his domain seeking to tempt us to sin, to overthrow our faith, or even to destroy us if he can.

So Peter exhorts us to

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 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. (1 Peter 5:8-11).

Men are really not our enemies. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Behind all of the world’s opposition to the people of God is Satan Himself who is making war on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17).

Believers Participate in the Sufferings of Christ

In preparing for persecution we should think about how Christ also suffered while in the world. We serve and follow a Savior who was rejected by men (1 Peter 2:4).

In other words, if Jesus suffered persecution and rejection there is no reason to think we will escape suffering while we sojourn through this world. And if they opposed Jesus, who never did anything wrong, we can expect the world to oppose us who follow the Lord.

We should not let this make us bitter, even against those who persecute us. Jesus prayed for the men nailing Him to the cross. And the Lord told us to bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us.

Suffering as a Christian is a participation in the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet. 4.13). This is not saying that we have to pay for part of our sins. Christ’s suffering has completely paid for sin so there is no need for us to suffer for our sin. That is why the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is so wrong. The sufferings of Christ are referring to how the world treated Jesus. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah predicted that He would be

despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

And the apostle John wrote that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11). Jesus was God in the flesh, but they did not recognize Him. And the world is hostile to God. So they were hostile to Jesus.

Even the large crowds that came to see Jesus and hear His teaching mostly came for the wrong reasons and did not understand the things He said. At the end, when Jesus was delivered over to Pilate, there were no crowds coming to Jesus’ defense.

The Jewish leaders hated Jesus, being threatened by Him. The Romans just wanted to get rid of a nuisance and Pilate simply washed his hands of the matter.

Jesus was not just killed, He was mocked, beaten, humiliated, and tortured. Jesus died as a criminal, hanging exposed between two criminals. There was nothing dignified about how the world treated Jesus.

So how do we participate in that kind of suffering? Does this mean we will be tortured and die? Maybe. Many believers have been, including Peter and the rest of the Apostles. The world has treated Jesus’ people like it treated Jesus, and that is how we participate in His suffering. The world rejected Jesus and it will do the same to us if we are like Him. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1).

When the world rejects and mistreats you because of Jesus, you are participating in a little of His sufferings.

This is what Paul also had in mind when he said “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). Paul must have never forgotten what Jesus said to him on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” When people persecute the Church, they are persecuting Christ because the Church is the Body of Christ. The world can no longer persecute Jesus, so the world’s hatred falls on the Body of Christ. And so we get to participate in Christ’s sufferings.

Someone might ask why God allows His people to experience suffering. The most obvious answer is that we are still in the world, which means we will suffer like Jesus did while He was here. If Jesus was not spared from this suffering, we should not think that we will be. When we get saved, the Lord leaves us in the world and does not immediately take us to heaven. The reason for this is so that we can be made like Christ, being conformed to His image. Suffering is part of this process.

That is the blessing for enduring these kinds of sufferings: we know that we are part of God’s purpose to make us like His Son. The suffering confirms that this process is actually taking place. So in this way the rejection of the world is evidence of Divine blessing. (The Health and Wealth Gospel preachers need to take note of this!) If the world accepted us then that would be evidence of Divine rejection. And so Jesus told His disciples:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Practical Instructions

To help us prepare for persecution, the Apostle Peter gives us some very practical instructions. There are some things we should not do, and then there are some things we should do.

First, what we should not do:

• Believers should not be surprised by suffering ( 1 Pet. 4.12). Being surprised by suffering betrays a woeful lack of understanding of what it means to be a Christian. And yet there may be people who think they want to follow Christ because He will give them some kind of earthly advantage. This may be the case for many people in our time when religion, wearing the name of Christ, is actually fashionable or trendy. But following the real Jesus will not make you popular with the world. And Jesus does not underwrite the American Dream.

• Believers should not suffer because of doing evil (1 Pet. 4.15). We cannot do foolish or wicked things and then when we suffer the inevitable consequences think we are suffering for Christ. Being persecuted for your faith and being punished for needlessly breaking the law is not the same. There may be times when we must obey God rather than man. But Christians should not be known as rebels who disregard the laws of society. Under normal circumstances Christians are to be obedient citizens of the nation: submitting to its laws, honoring its rulers, and even paying taxes.

• Believers should not be ashamed when suffering for Christ (1 Pet. 4.16). Peter knew something about this from personal experience. When Jesus was arrested, Peter was too ashamed to even admit that he knew Christ, but denied Him three different times. That was a moment of weakness from which Peter recovered. What about you? Have you actually been embarrassed to be known as a Christian? Did you try to keep it a secret that you follow Jesus, fearing what people might do or say? Don’t be ashamed of the Lord. Jesus died for you publicly and you need to confess Him before men. If you continue to be ashamed of Jesus, then Jesus will be ashamed of you when He comes again (Mk 8.38).

Peter also gives us some practical things we should do when preparing for persecution:

• Believers should rejoice in suffering for Christ (1 Pet. 4.13). We do not rejoice in the pain and suffering but in the reason for it. There is no reason to intentionally seek suffering, it will come to you naturally if you are busy serving Christ! We rejoice because this is our confirmation that we belong to Christ and that He will reward us when He comes again. When Peter and the other disciples were beaten for their preaching, they rejoiced that they had been counted worthy of suffering for the Name of Jesus (Acts 5.41).

• Believers should entrust themselves to God and do what is right (1 Pet. 4.19). We might shrink back from doing or saying certain things for Jesus because we fear the repercussions. The antidote to this fear is faith. We “let the chips fall where they may” and do what we know is right. Our job is to do what is right. It is God’s job to take care of us when there is fallout for doing the right thing. The best example of this kind of thinking is found in Daniel and his three friends, who all refused to obey the King’s edict even though they knew there would be deadly consequences. These men put their lives into God’s hands, knowing that He could deliver them. God does not always deliver His people. In that case we will be ushered into the presence of the Lord! We are not to fear those who can only kill the body. Fear God and do what is right, knowing that your life is in His hands.

Is This Worth Dying For?

But I suppose it is part of our nature to ask if such a sacrifice is really worth it? If I lay down my life and give everything up for Jesus, what am I going to get in return?

Some people might actually say this is the wrong question. They might say that we should do the right thing for its own sake and not for any reward. It should be enough that Jesus told us to lay down our lives and we should just do that because He said so. We should not be mercenaries, they say, just serving the Lord for some kind of payout.

I both agree and disagree with this kind of thinking. First, I agree that we should do what the Lord says just because He says it. We don’t really need any other reason.

But the Lord has told us what the rewards will be for laying down our lives and suffering for His sake. Can you imagine entering a race that has no finish line and no prize to be won? How long would you run in such a race? People who enter athletic competitions suffer. And they do so because there is a prize to be won. Perhaps they should just compete for the love of the game, but even that love is a kind of reward.

Human beings are wired to work toward a goal. God made us to desire something. Unfortunately, many people desire things that will perish. But God means for us to desire what only He can give to us.

This thing that God wants to give us is what the New Testament calls “glory.” This glory from God is worth whatever suffering we might have to endure in this world. As Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Wait for His Appearing

To get this glory we must wait on the Lord and His appearing. In this world we should expect suffering. The glory is not going to come until the Lord comes. So don’t expect too much while you are still in the world. If you are the kind of person who insists on having it all now, you will find it difficult to persevere during tribulation.

The Devil will offer you instant gratification. Remember how he even tempted Jesus with this?

“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9). 

The Devil was saying to Jesus “You can have it all right now!” Satan will tempt us in much the same way. Does it not seem like the Devil takes better care of his servants than God does of His? There are the Devil’s people all fat, rich, and happy while the servants of God are poor and suffering! Satan’s offer is to have it all now.

It is possible to avoid suffering for Christ. (Perhaps we should examine ourselves to see if we are even being persecuted for anything!) You can take the easy way and just enjoy life, finding all of your pleasure and satisfaction in this world. On the Day of Judgment many people will hear the words “remember that you in your lifetime received your good things” (Luke 16:25).

But I would rather it be said of me that I, like Moses, opted “to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:25-26).

Being ready to suffer persecution really comes from believing God and His promises. It will be impossible for you to let go of this world and your own life unless you believe there is something greater and better that is worth such a sacrifice. If this world and this life are all that we have in our vision, then we will hang onto it as long as we possibly can.

But faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11.1). Faith cuts our ties with this world and anchors our hope in God. Our hope beyond this world is based on God's promise of a New World. If we believe that God is going to make a New Creation then it will be our goal to make it into that New Creation at all costs – even if that means losing our lives in this world.