Freedom For Today

“The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.”

The end of the world was supposed to happen a few weeks ago. Another prediction (with billboards!) had the apocalypse coming a few years ago. I read one article this week (from the people who were wrong about the September date) who said they were “off by a few weeks” and if we wait until mid-October we “will not be disappointed…” Why are we so obsessed with trying to predict the end of the world? If it was “coming soon” almost 2,000 years ago, what does that mean for us today?

Ultimately, we all get focused on unanswerable questions. Our brains circle around in loop after loop chasing down the unknown, while at the same time we are too distracted to do what we are called to do. Be honest. Pray a lot. Love each other. Cheerfully share and open your home to others. That’s our to-do list from Jesus. “Predict the end of the world” doesn’t show up on that list, and in fact Jesus said we would never figure it out anyway. Can’t we just handle being surprised?

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s got the details. He knows when he’s coming back. And in fact, he’s here now. When we live in the Spirit and do the things Jesus told us to do, we don’t really have time to worry about the details of the apocalypse. God can figure all that out. But if my neighbor is going hungry, it seems strange to hole myself up in my house pouring over calendars and numbers in the Bible. There are a whole lot of other unanswerable questions we are focused on as well: How will such-and-such situation turn out? Why did this thing happen to me? What will life be like in 5 years from now? Just rest. Release the questions. Love others. God’s got this.

“Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.”

Anybody out there have some “former friends” that are surprised you don’t live a wild life anymore? In yesterday’s post, we talked about suffering. On the surface it may seem like you are suffering when you abstain from sin. But those who live destructive lives are the ones who are actually suffering. When they see that you are living a different kind of life with Jesus, they may talk about you and try to smear your reputation. That’s okay — it’s not a reputation you wanted to keep anyway.

These verses get a little confusing venturing into the words “the living” and “the dead.” Those who are “living” are those who have been saved by Jesus, now living a new life in the Spirit. Remember when we talked about the idea of being “born again”? We are living our eternal lives starting now. The “dead” are the ones who are not living this free life. They are still chained to sin and are destined to die. These “dead” people are the very ones who still need to hear the good news of Jesus — and it is a matter of some urgency.

Here’s your freedom for today: you are on an eternal life journey. If you have been born into the kingdom of God through the Holy Spirit, your life keeps going. Not only that, you keep growing and deepening into your union with God. We will never reach the end of the depths of God, even as we dwell in him for eternity. Don’t wait until you get to heaven to start really living. You are free right now to dwell in the Holy Spirit and let him consume your life.

“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”

“Be ready to suffer!” isn’t a winning slogan we’ve heard before. Even the commercials for joining the military sound more glamorous than that. Yet ultimately, as much as the Gospel is good news, the Christian life is about suffering. We celebrate Christ and the cross until we realize he wants us to imitate him. Some only get halfway up the mountain dragging a cross behind them before they give up.

So what is the benefit of suffering? Peter tells us here that if we suffer physically for Christ then we are “finished with sin.” That sounds good. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop chasing your own desires that keep leading you in the wrong direction and just be able to do what God wants for you all the time? This is why throughout church history some practiced self-flagellation (beating themselves with a whip in order to physically suffer). I don’t encourage this practice, because I think it misses the point. But voluntary suffering through fasting, giving away money or possessions to the poor, or risking your worldly reputation to stand up for justice are some ways we can suffer in the imitation of Christ.

Here’s your freedom for today: you can walk freely into liberation. You have the opportunity to be done with evil things. You can walk away from sin. Through Jesus we have the power to do this because we are no longer slaves to sin. The key to leaving sin behind is suffering, in part because sin often brings us temporary comfort. It’s kind of like saying, “I can be healthier by leaving chocolate behind!” The question then becomes, “Do I really want to?” How far into your own freedom are you willing to walk today by leaving behind the things you are clinging to?

“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.”

I have to admit, this passage caught me off guard. Starting out, it seems like pretty straightforward Gospel-message stuff. Then in verse 19 it says, “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison — those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.” Wait, what?? Hold on, so Jesus died, was raised to life in the Spirit (but possibly not yet physically), and preached to the people that rejected God back in Noah’s day?

For those of you who want to investigate this further, there are some commentaries that can illuminate various scholars’ positions. I tend to lean towards those who believe that this passage tells us some of what Jesus was doing for 3 days while he was dead (and descended into Hell). If anyone would have been privy to some of these fascinating details, it would have been Peter. Here he also uses the flood as a metaphor for baptism and our new life in Jesus. I also find it interesting that he contrasts Jesus’ descent into Hell with his ascent to Heaven.

Here’s your freedom for today: the Bible is full of mystery. You don’t have to understand it all. In fact, you can’t understand it all. If you were to agree with me that these verses describe Jesus’ days in hell, then what are the implications for him preaching to those who rejected God in Noah’s day? Can they be saved out of hell? What would be the point of preaching to them? If those questions lean you away from my position, then what position does that leave? Is this somehow a metaphor for something else? When we don’t understand, we have to hold our opinions loosely. We might be wrong. And that is why our salvation does not depend on our ability to articulate our doctrine.

“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!”

Recall that in yesterday’s post, Peter told us to ignore the fears and threats of this world. If we do that, we’ll have a lot more time on our hands and room in our minds for other things. Today’s verses help us know where to direct our attention: worship of Jesus. Since you’ll be using your emotional energy to focus on the hope that Jesus offers you, you will be able to easily talk about it with anyone who asks.

Now everybody come in real close for a team huddle here, because this next point is critically important and we generally are horrible at this. Ready? When you are telling people about Jesus, don’t be obnoxious about it. Just be gentle and respectful, even when people are atheists or pagans or worship their dead Aunt Sally. It’s okay just to talk about your own spiritual life without being argumentative or rude. If people attack you (and you therefore suffer) because you are defensive and angry in “sharing the Gospel,” then you really won’t get any sympathy. If you suffer for doing good, serving people no one else wants to be caught dead with, then God is perfectly okay with that.

Here’s your freedom for today: God gives you permission to be gentle and kind. In our day and age, we need permission for such things because they seem so unconventional. But as we discussed when we studied Galatians 5, gentleness and kindness are evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit. You don’t need to hit anybody over the head with a Bible (old Sunday school joke: the truth hurts!). You get to just worship Jesus and tell anyone who wants to know about your experience. You can also listen to their views as well. Respectfully listen. It is not a failure of evangelism if they walk away from that conversation with only a seed planted instead of a giant oak tree fully grown.