Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if, as a child, you were ever bullied, and one day you became the bully. Or maybe in your teen years you were pressured by peers to do some really dumb things that got you in trouble, but you got even with them later on. Or perhaps as an adult, you’ve been hurt, but you retaliated and they got from you what you felt they deserved, and then some. In recent weeks the world has watched the World Cup and in America the football playoffs. In both sports, like all sports, referees watch carefully not only for fouls but for flagrant fouls intended to harm and also retaliation behavior that often can result in a person ejected from the competition.
As you look around your part of the world, is RETALIATION an important part of your society? Is it a sign of weakness if a person or a team or a business does NOT retaliate? And what were you taught growing up in your family? These days I’m leading you through a journey we are taking with the disciple Peter as he writes his first letter to Christians in the Roman empire in the middle of the first century. Retaliation was a big part of survival in that time of history and that place. The strong survived and the weak often died.
Peter is writing to people who are seeking to experience the life changing work of the Holy Spirit of God as they put their trust in Jesus Christ, but as they do these people find they are not applauded or cheered by other people, rather, they are mocked, humiliated, persecuted and in some cases tortured. And if they try to retaliate, the horrific power of the Roman military comes down on them, for Nero, the Roman Caesar, would prefer there be NO Christians in the entire Roman empire. The Roman soldiers, assigned to put down any disturbances in cities and towns across the empire, know that gives them license, and many are delighted to take full advantage of that freedom to retaliate!
Yesterday we looked closely at this statement from Peter: “…all of you, be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” Those are hard words for people living in difficult times with open harassment. But what Peter wrote next is even more difficult: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9) Now that not only requires a remarkably powerful work of God in changing you and me from argumentative, combative, reactionary, prideful people to humble, sympathetic, loving, compassionate people, but it also calls us to have the courage and power to defeat the natural uprising in our soul when someone has hurt us!
By our very nature we will rise up and defend ourselves, of course! We’ll do it verbally or with threats or with intimidating body language or with outright physical violence or with a careful plan of retaliation! That’s the normal human way, right? Peter knew that way all too well. But Peter’s life was changed by watching Jesus in His time of persecution. Jesus refused to retaliate to the abuse He took, either in words or actions.
At the time Peter didn’t understand and in fact Peter ran into the shadows for his own safety and even denied, not once but three times, that he even knew Jesus. But after that Passover weekend, when Jesus was crucified and then rose from the dead, Peter’s relationship with Jesus took Peter on a transformational journey. Peter was not only forgiven and restored to relationship by Jesus, Peter was emboldened, and then with the transforming filling of the Holy Spirit, Peter became a different man. Peter the apostle faced the persecution he received much as Jesus did and thus from a prison cell Peter can write this to his fellow Christians, calling them to join him in a radical way of living… a nonviolent life! It’s probably totally counter to everything you have learned in your lifetime. Peter challenges us: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult!” Jesus did it with SILENCE, refusing to be baited into a debate with Pilate or His accusers. (Matt. 26&27) Jesus did it by refusing to rally and retaliate with the power or angelic support He had available to Him. (Matt. 26:52,53) Jesus compassionately awakened His sleeping disciples as the mob approached the garden, even though He’d asked them to keep watch and pray with Him. (Matt. 26:36-46) Jesus said nothing as He watched His friends run into the night shadows, abandoning Jesus to the arresting mob. (Matt. 26:47-56) Jesus asked God to forgive His crucifiers as they drove the nails into His hands. (Luke 23:34) After His death and resurrection Jesus welcomed back His disciples, including Peter who had denied Him. (John 21)
That’s the model for us my friends, and it’s only possible as our hearts and our minds are profoundly changed by the power of Jesus as He breaks our sin nature hold on us, and the indwelling, transforming Holy Spirit who guides us and empowers us to live a radically changed life which honors God our heavenly Father at all times. That is what Peter meant and envisioned for us when he wrote:“…all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.” But there’s more!
Peter continues: “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats, do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:13-16) Of course you and I both know we live in a world where many times people who do good things are taken advantage of or harmed.
However, every person has to decide what standard of right and wrong will govern their lives and to whom will they ultimately be accountable. And when wronged, or treated unfairly, how will they respond? For Christians, our standards are God defined in God’s Word. Jesus modeled that standard as He lived in sinless obedience to God during His earthly lifetime. And the Holy Spirit will guide us in living as Jesus did, rejecting the onslaught of the devil and his demons as they try to draw us away from God honoring living and into the darkness of retaliation. But as we stand, refusing to retaliate, naturally the questions will come… WHY do you not retaliate? Do you see Peter’s response: “…in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
There it is my friends, the key to all of this. Peter calls us to declare Jesus Christ as our Lord, our King, Master in our lives and therefore seek to live every day, every moment of every day, under His authority for the honor of Jesus our Savior and King! Then secondly, we need to prepare a good, understandable, logical answer for those who ask why we refuse to retaliate. That good answer is rooted in HOPE, isn’t it? The confident hope you have that no matter what happens to you, even death itself, God is watching (1 Peter 3:12); the Holy Spirit is IN you, empowering you; and Jesus is ready to escort you from here into God’s presence, for all eternity.
I invite us to consider that at this moment there are thousands of people incarcerated around the world primarily because they refuse to deny Jesus, they refuse to retaliate against their persecutors, they refuse to stop proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. This is really important isn’t it my friends? And I’m sure you understand the pressure against Christians everywhere is only going to increase in 2023, so it’s vital, if you claim to be a Christian, that you own these verses that Peter wrote.
So, let’s pause here and let’s invite the Holy Spirit to help us personalize Peter’s challenge for ourselves, and let’s spend some time talking with Jesus and worshipping with this song…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 3:13-15.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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