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Our Great Salvation, 1

Published January 8, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: compromise, Our great salvation, suffering

Barely Saved!

Text: 1 Peter 4:18

If the righteous are barely saved, what chance will the godless have? (1 Peter 4:18 TLB)

This verse is way simpler to understand than you may think. But then Bible scholars tend to think too much, meaning sometimes they get it all wrong. Many Bible scholars look at this verse and believe it to be a prophecy. Peter wrote this letter roughly a decade before the great fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and these very smart scholars believe Peter is referencing that devastating event. When Cestus Gallus began his siege against Jerusalem, many believers were stuck in town—they were prevented from escaping. For some reason, the siege was halted for a brief time and many, though not all, Christians slipped out of town and headed for a place called Pella, in King Agrippa’s sphere of influence. These expats were “barely saved,” because the Roman army soon returned under the command of Titus, who decimated the Temple and its grounds and basically razed Jerusalem to the ground. In all, some one million citizens of Jerusalem were slain.

This is why some scholars see Peter making a short prophecy: during the siege of Jerusalem, some Christians were “barely saved” by leaving Jerusalem, but unbelievers remained and many were killed; they had “no chance.” But is this what Peter was getting at? Think about this: the word translated “barely” in The Living Bible and “hard” in the NIV does not mean there is any degree of uncertainty surrounding our salvation. Our salvation is absolutely assured in Christ; we are currently enjoying our great salvation and because we are saved, there is a 100% chance we will end up in Heaven when we die. There is NO chance we won’t make it. It does not mean that Christians will just barely squeak in through the pearly gates, either. Now, there may be some believers that will enter Heaven that way, but it’s not God’s ideal for any us.

And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11 TLB)

God wants to see all of us rushing the gates of Heaven, which will be open wide in joyous expectation of our arrival. He wants us to sweep through the gates, not crawl through.

No, the word “barely” really means “with difficulty.” So, according to Peter, believers are saved “with difficulty.” That’s still a bit cloudy, isn’t it? So a look at context is needed.

Suffering: Common

We need to go back to 1 Peter 4:12 to understand why Peter wrote verse 18—

Dear friends, don’t be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you. (1 Peter 4:12 TLB)

Of course, Peter is not writing us US, he is writing to his “dear friends,” which is from the Greek agapetoi, meaning “beloved.” His beloved friends were going through a rough patch with no end in sight, so he’s trying to encourage them by telling them that they are not alone in their suffering. Fiery trials, according to Peter, are the norm in life for all believers, including YOU. Suffering should never, ever, be regarded unusual, but rather as a “refining test.” This idea was already floated by Peter a few chapters back:

So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return. (1 Peter 1:6, 7 TLB)

But the “trials” are not the results of dumb things you may have done. That speeding ticket you deserved is not a trial and it’s not persecution. The headache you are enduring is probably not a test of your faith, it’s the result of, say, not getting enough sleep.

Don’t let me hear of your suffering for murdering or stealing or making trouble or being a busybody and prying into other people’s affairs. (1 Peter 4:15 TLB)

No, what Peter means is what John meant:

So don’t be surprised, dear friends, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13 TLB)

It should not surprise any Christian anywhere in the world when they are “persecuted” in any way. It ought to be expected, though not necessarily sought after.

Suffering: Response

Instead, be really glad—because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterwards you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory in that coming day when it will be displayed. (1 Peter 4:13 TLB)

Whenever we face a trial not of our making, we are usually bewildered and surprised and shocked; we may rail against this person or that organization or even God. Here, Peter tells us how we ought to react to unprovoked suffering: “be really glad,” he says!

Be happy if you are cursed and insulted for being a Christian, for when that happens the Spirit of God will come upon you with great glory. (1 Peter 4:14 TLB)

This is one of those verses that is difficult to translate from Greek to English. Essentially Peter wants us to understand suffering (“cursed and insulted for being a Christian”) is a token—an evidence—that you really are a Christian. But he tacks an important phrase that needs to noted: “for when that happens the Spirit of God will come upon you with great glory.” In other words, it’s not really the suffering that does it, it’s standing up and enduring that suffering; it’s your response to the suffering that demonstrates to God and everybody else that your faith is real. Stephen is a dramatic real-life example of what Peter is writing about here:

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. (Acts 6:55 TLB)

In the midst of his own martyrdom, Stephen stood up, stood firm in his faith, and was given this incredible vision of God’s glory. Now, it’s an extreme example to be sure, but we may be sure that when we maintain our faith when it is tested, God will similarly bless us by allowing us to experience a side of Himself we may never experience otherwise.

Suffering: No shame

But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being in Christ’s family and being called by his wonderful name! (1 Peter 4:16 TLB)

You have to admire Peter for writing verse 16 because you know he wrote it out of his own experience. It’s common to beat yourself up when you encounter trials. It’s common to question yourself or God and to feel embarrassed; like you did something wrong. A Christian should never feel this way if they are enduring any kind of “persecution” on account of their faith. It’s nothing they’ve done. They aren’t being punished. On the contrary! If you are encountering difficult times because of your faith, realize it’s a privilege! It’s proof that you are part of His great family.

Now, if you are suffering on account of your own sinful actions, that’s not glorifying to God and it’s not a privilege. It’s merely reaping what you’ve sowed. But, if you are, for example, tossed into prison because of your faith, then you can glorify God and be a tremendous witness for Him in how you handle that situation.

Suffering: Ultimate Purpose

The crux of Peter’s argument comes here in verse 17—

For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin first among God’s own children. And if even we who are Christians must be judged, what terrible fate awaits those who have never believed in the Lord? (1 Peter 4:17 TLB)

This is a chilling verse, so let’s discuss what it really means. In Acts 14, Paul wrote this:

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God… (Acts 14:22b NIV)

Both men, Peter and Paul, seemed to understand that their present trials and tests were just the beginning of a long period of judgment. Now, in the Old Testament, the prophets often spoke about the judgment those who sinned against God would face, both in this life and the next. What Peter wrote sounds like what these OT prophets wrote but it’s not the same thing at all! The people of Israel continually sinned against God in spite of the prophet’s warnings and in spite of their difficult times. They were hard-hearted and stubborn and eventually faced grievous judgment when the Lord punished the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

But Peter is not talking about judgment in the sense of “punishment.” The community of believers is not the same thing as Israel. Israel was punished on account of their sin; we, however, are being “judged” at this present time. We can look back at the way God dealt with Israel and we can see a pattern even though the Church is not Israel. God always disciplines and judges His own people before He passes judgment on others for the purpose of revealing who will stand the test. In Peter and Paul’s day, the terrible suffering the Church was going through was a true “ordeal by fire,” revealing who the true believers where and which ones were just “hangers on.” The trials the early Church endured were for the purpose of purging it from troublemakers and religious rascals thus enabling them to glorify God. In our day, that purging is still occurring. Trials and tests come along personally to test our faith; to reveal to us and to others what our faith is made of. God is not punishing we true believers by allowing difficult times to descend upon us; He is giving us a chance to grow in our faith; to engage in a time of self-examination. Rarely do we ever see ourselves the way we really are; a rough patch can serve as mirror, showing us how weak or how strong our faith may be.

And that beings us to our text:

If the righteous are barely saved, what chance will the godless have? (1 Peter 4:18 TLB)

Now, here we see the two groups of people God sees when He looks at planet Earth: the righteous and the ungodly. Both groups face and will face God’s judgments. As Peter noted, God’s judgment comes first to His people, later it will come to those who don’t know Him. Verse 18 did not originate with Peter; he’s really quoting a verse from Proverbs:

Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: Much more the wicked and the sinner. (Proverbs 11:31 KJV)

Peter actually quotes from the Greek version of the Old Testament which reads a little different and looks more like this:

If the righteous receive what they deserve on earth, how much more the ungodly and sinner!

In other words, both groups, the saved and the unsaved, get what they deserve. Now, looking at 1 Peter 4:18, we see that Peter is simply stating a fact: getting saved is difficult and sometimes staying saved is difficult. But then Jesus said pretty much the same thing, didn’t He?

But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it. (Mathew 7:14 TLB)

It takes effort to get saved—to stay on a very narrow road, and it’s hard to even find the way to it–some barely find it at all! Peter’s intent here is to show in a simple way that the life of the believer is not supposed to be easy, it was never easy, and it never will be because it wasn’t designed to be. So, suffering Christian, don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t doubt God. If you, as imperfect a specimen of Christianity you may be are “just” saved, realize that everybody else—all those unbelievers you envy and wonder about because they don’t have the problems you have—come up far shorter than you ever did, or ever will, and they have no chance whatever.

Suffering: The Final Word

So if you are suffering according to God’s will, keep on doing what is right and trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you. (1 Peter 4:19 TLB)

You need to read this verse correctly. It is not saying that God plans specific suffering for every individual Christian, for that would make Him no better than a great cosmic joker. Rather Peter is simply restating what he’s been saying all along: you will suffer on account of your faith in God. God knows it, He didn’t hide this fact from you, and He warned us many times ahead of time what we may expect. That suffering may take many forms and is always relative to the culture and society believers find themselves in. That being the case, what do we do? We keep on living and doing right. We don’t change and we don’t compromise. We don’t give up on God; we trust Him even more. He will never fail us.

Praying through trouble

Published July 25, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Psalms, sovereignty of God, suffering, trouble

Psalm 77

The Psalms are a unique genre of Biblical literature. For some Psalms, we can find the historical setting from clues within the psalm itself. Many of David’s psalms are like that. When we know the circumstances surrounding the psalm, the psalm means so much more. Some psalms were written as hymns of praise to be sung in the worship of Jehovah. Generally speaking, the psalms are not dissertations of doctrine and theology. They are poems and songs written either to magnify the nature and attributes of God, or to reflect the mood of whoever composed them. Generally we don’t find promises or doctrinal statements upon which to hang our faith on in the psalms. But there is a lot we can learn from each and every psalm.

Psalm 77 is known as a “lament.” In fact, it is a personal lament, not a national one for it describes the desperation of one man: Asaph, the writer of this pslam. It follows the pattern of other laments in the Bible: it begins down in the valley of despair but rises to the summit of hopefulness. Verse 10 is the turning point of the psalm—

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

This verse separates the major segments of the psalm; the first section tells of great sadness and sorrow and in the second section, the lament turns into a song where the sorrow is all but forgotten. In the first, the individual is predominant and in the second it is all about God. In fact, in the first 9 verses the personal pronoun occurs 22 times and there only 11 references to God. But in the second section, God is mentioned 24 times with only 3 personal references.

This makes the basic message of the psalm so powerful: to dwell on the negative side of life leaves a person broken and disheartened; but when we focus on God our troubles pale.

We know nothing of the personal story that inspired the writing of this psalm, although Bible scholars love to try and figure it out. For us, we’ll just say that the author was probably very much like we are who have good days and bad days, and at the time of this psalm, Aspah is having a very bad day.

1. Sorrow, verses 1—3

I cried out to God for help;

I cried out to God to hear me.

When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched out untiring hands

and my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;

I mused, and my spirit grew faint.

Selah

Here was a desperate man. Day and night he cried out to the Lord. While we don’t know exactly what is problem was, the KJV’s translation of verse 2 may give us a clue—

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

His “sore ran in the night” seems to suggest some sort of physical ailment was at the root of this man’s distress. This is, of course pure speculation, but whatever the problem was it was serious enough to cause the writer wonder if God turned His back on him.

The sadness of this verse cannot be missed: here was a faithful man who sought the Lord in time of trouble, yet he found no relief. This made the writer restless and confused. He writes in verse 3 that he “mused” when he thought about God. His present predicament seemed to run contrary to what he knew about God! In this instance, because of his self-centered mind-set, the more he thought about God the more he became discouraged and the more he “groaned” in despair. Usually good memories about God have the opposite effect, but if we are mired in negatively, even good thoughts can be turned negative.

2. Searching and questioning, verses 4—9

You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.

I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;

I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired:

“Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?

Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?

Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
Selah

In his darkest hour, the psalmist recalls what it used to be like and he recalled the “songs in the night.” These hymns were sung in the nighttime hours to comfort the people of God as they rededicated themselves to Him. As they lay awake, unable to sleep, they would sing these special hymns and their anxiety, hopefully, would leave and sleep would finally come. Unfortunately, things were now so bad, that not only could Asaph not sleep, but these “songs in the night,” these spiritual lullabies, no longer worked.

As he sat up in bed, unable to sleep, he asks a serious of six questions. These are common questions that depressed people often ask, but they came from the psalmist’s heart and were not considered complaints. Doubts and questions, incidentally, are actually therapeutic and common to many of the great men of Scripture. Even our Lord on the Cross quoted Psalm 22:1—

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

Each of these questions demands a negative answer because they are asked from a negative mindset:

Will the Lord reject forever? Answer: No.
Will he never show is favor again? Answer: No.
Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Answer: No. His love is still there, in fact.
Has his promise failed for all time? Answer: God is still keeping His promise whether we see them coming to fruition or not.
Has God forgotten to be merciful? Answer: No. Being merciful is part of God’s character. He has never stopped showing mercy.
Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Answer: No. Again, being compassionate is part of God’s nature; the fact that we cannot feel that compassion says something about us, not God.

If we look at these questions, we see a kind of progression from the writer’s personal present situation (he feels rejected) to the cause: the Lord’s apparent anger (He withholds His compassion).

What is interesting about these questions is that they reveal something very precious about the psalmist’s heart. His heart finally comes to rest because as he gives voice to his doubts he realizes that the living God cannot be as he perceives him to be at this dark moment. The more questions he asked, the more hope swelled in his heart.

3. Surrender, verses 10—15

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.

Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?

You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.

With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah

The questions asked are followed by some determined statements, each beginning with the phrase “I will.” Remembering God’s acts in history provides the foundation for a faith that trusts. This is why knowing the Word of God is so important. The great stories of the Bible are meant to teach us something, to encourage us, and to lift us up when we find ourselves in a desperate position like the psalmist found himself in.

Verse 10, as previously mentioned, is the turning point in the psalm. Here are other ways to read this verse—

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. (KJV)

Then I said, “It is my grief,
That the right hand of the Most High has changed.” (NASB)

Then said I, This is my weakness: — the years of the right hand of the Most High. (Darby)

In other words, the psalmist has realized: “This is my trial, this is my grief.” Here he had reached the absolute lowest point of his experience; he had come to the end of his resources. At that point, his whole attitude began to change. What changed his attitude? He took his eyes off himself, after all there was nothing he could for himself, and started to look at God; the God of the Bible. He “remembers” all the amazing things God did throughout the history of Israel. The Hebrew for “remember” may also be rendered “proclaim,” suggesting that in the midst of his misery, Asaph proclaimed the goodness of God! He did not complain or whine; he preached.

Aspah reached the bottom and there was no way to go but up, which is why verse 10 signals such a change is thinking and direction.

4. Sovereignty, verses 16—20

The waters saw you, O God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.

The clouds poured down water,
the skies resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.

Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.

Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.

You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

These verses remind us of some of the things Job said of God in the midst of his suffering. He, like the psalmist, hit rock bottom and was forced to see the greatness of God from a different perspective; from the bottom up, so to speak. From a literary stand point, these verses are powerfully dramatic and imaginatively written. In this passage we read of the supremacy of God in nature and in the history of Israel. God is seen as working in and through nature; He who made the earth has not left it merely hanging in space. God continually uses His creation to benefit his people. Even terrible things, like violent storms, are used by God to help man.

John James Stewart Perowne, bishop, Hebrew scholar and author of an excellent commentary on the Psalms wrote this:

We know not, they knew not, by what precise means the deliverance was wrought…and we need not know; the obscurity, the mystery here, as elsewhere was part of the lesson. All that we see distinctly is, that through this dark and terrible night, with enemy pressing close behind, and the driving sea on either side, He led His people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

God is sovereign. When we are suffering we see things very narrowly. The urgency of the moment crowds out the important and eternal truths we know about God. The great lesson of this psalm is that sometimes, when times are rough, we need to reach the bottom before we may begin our ascent. God uses the circumstances around us to affect a positive change in us.

May each of strive to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, instead of on the passing circumstances around us. Only then will we be lifted up, like the psalmist was.