Surprises 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Do you like surprises? I do not particularly like surprises. But they will come in life and you hope for good surprises, but many of life's surprises are the bad nd. The new Christians Peter writes to have been surprised by facing persecution for their faith. Verse 1, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." These Christians Peter writes to are Gentiles and so they're shocked. They became Christians just in time to be persecuted. Then Peter breaks the news that persecution is ordinary for Christians. Jesus said that if they persecuted him, they'll persecute his followers.

In the face of suffering, Peter reminds Christians of the living evil that infects our world. He says, "Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour." As Christians we need to be alert in two directions — sensitive for God's leading and resisting against evil's temptations. Evil doesn't go away once you're a Christian. Plenty of people hadn't really struggled with evil until they became Christians. As difficult as it is for modern Americans to conceive of a personal God in Jesus Christ, it's even harder for them to think of evil as a living being. The scriptures, however, explain that, like God, the devil is at least personal; the devil can infect science, education, and democracy as well as any other speck of human life.

Jesus didn't say, "Follow me and believe there's a devil." The New Testament proclamation isn't centered on the devil. Peter focuses us on God. He doesn't speculate as to where the devil came from or why he's opposed to God. Peter just warns us that evil stalks its victims; especially, it prowls among us with temptations like a cat crouching and sneaking toward a mouse.

"Keep alert," Peter warns us against evil. More important, stay sensitive to God's presence, "because he cares for you." God cares for us personally. The New Testament proclaims that God is like the person Jesus Christ, and Jesus cares about us.

We experience God's care partly through our fellow Christians. Verse 9 reassures us, "that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering." It's a tremendous help to remember that others are in this faith with us. I have Christian friends I haven't seen for over a decade. Yet, we still pray for one another. This isn't a silly practice pastors dabble in. Praying for one another is God's gift to the church that grants strength to live for God even in persecution.

Every Christian congregation, not just special ones you read about or see on television, every Christian congregation has the potential of strengthening one another to endure the times when following Jesus is most difficult.

As we meet the problems life throws at our faith, Peter instructs us to "cast all your anxiety on" God. The word translated "anxiety" means "care, worry, or anxiety" depending on the context. It's the word Jesus uses to tell us not to worry about ourselves. Paul employs the exact word to talk about his concern for the church.

Are you preoccupied about yourself or concerned about others? Peter says to toss the worries about yourself onto God. God will give you better things to occupy your time and energy — caring for others.

In the gospel of John, using a different word but the same concept, Jesus on the night he was arrested told his students, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Yet Jesus, that same night would tell his students that he was troubled in soul and spirit. Peter learned from Jesus that we should let Jesus be troubled for us. Don't fixate on your problems until they become worries that constantly occupy you and then grow into anxieties that terrorize you.   God cares for us as people. God cares enough about us even to be troubled for us.  Peter says "cast" your cares onto God. Don't be delicate. Heave your problems onto God before they become anxieties. Do it before real problems break out. God cares about you more than you care about your problems.   God won't instantly fix all your difficulties.

Peter says that such struggles test us, and, in the sense, refine us. If we stay open to God's Spirit during such difficulties, God never said, by the way, that the Christian faith is easy. It's just that following Jesus is more important than anything else.

During World War II, a small village in southern Vichy, France, consistently resisted Nazi occupiers by hiding Jews and helping them to escape. The village of Le Chambon with 3,000 mostly Huguenot Protestants was led by Pastor André Trocmé. Without weapons, they nonviolently defied the Nazis right under the nose of their occupiers. By the war's end it is estimated they'd helped save between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews, many of them children. Doing so, they risked their individual lives and the lives of every person in town. Whereas evil is contagious, spreading and infecting people, so the Holy Spirit fills people and spreads the faith to others and grants others the will and the ability to resist evil.

The town of Le Chambon had something enduring to offer not only to fleeing Jews but to the world beyond. Years later, a despairing professor researching the cruelties of World War II and becoming more and more despondent at the state of humanity, read a brief account of the village of Le Chambon and its victorious, practical, and courageous love for others.

Within a year, Philip Hallie was in the village of Le Chambon interviewing those still alive in order to report the events. His book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, records the memories of the folk of Le Chambon. Hallie was a witness to what the village did, and also a witness to our created need for a faith that will recognize and resist evil.

We're better equipped to meet life's surprises, tragedies, and atrocities if we center our thinking upon our Lord's pattern of crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are the outline of hope for us. Jesus' resurrection proclaims that evil doesn't get the last word. God's grace does.

When we're anxious, we especially need to cast our cares upon God who has shown us the pattern that undergirds all of life: Jesus' death and resurrection. As Christians we are part of God's great, grand, and cosmic work. God continues to fight evil through us, to deliver gracious love to others through us, and to bring life from death in us.

God's working in our lives isn't obvious every minute. Sometimes you have to do a little research to perceive what God accomplishes in quiet ways in ordinary people to bring life out of death. We trust that God will restore us, support us, strengthen us, and establish us. Because the Christian faith is centered on God's surprising, recurring grace in Jesus. We'll trust that Jesus' death and resurrection are the pattern of God's continuing grace among us, and we'll cast our cares upon God, no matter the consequences. We affirm our faith with Peter's last statement, "To [God] be the power forever and ever." Amen.

Surprises 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Do you like surprises? I do not particularly like surprises. But they will come in life and you hope for good surprises, but many of life's surprises are the bad nd. The new Christians Peter writes to have been surprised by facing persecution for their faith. Verse 1, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." These Christians Peter writes to are Gentiles and so they're shocked. They became Christians just in time to be persecuted. Then Peter breaks the news that persecution is ordinary for Christians. Jesus said that if they persecuted him, they'll persecute his followers.

In the face of suffering, Peter reminds Christians of the living evil that infects our world. He says, "Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour." As Christians we need to be alert in two directions — sensitive for God's leading and resisting against evil's temptations. Evil doesn't go away once you're a Christian. Plenty of people hadn't really struggled with evil until they became Christians. As difficult as it is for modern Americans to conceive of a personal God in Jesus Christ, it's even harder for them to think of evil as a living being. The scriptures, however, explain that, like God, the devil is at least personal; the devil can infect science, education, and democracy as well as any other speck of human life.

Jesus didn't say, "Follow me and believe there's a devil." The New Testament proclamation isn't centered on the devil. Peter focuses us on God. He doesn't speculate as to where the devil came from or why he's opposed to God. Peter just warns us that evil stalks its victims; especially, it prowls among us with temptations like a cat crouching and sneaking toward a mouse.

"Keep alert," Peter warns us against evil. More important, stay sensitive to God's presence, "because he cares for you." God cares for us personally. The New Testament proclaims that God is like the person Jesus Christ, and Jesus cares about us.

We experience God's care partly through our fellow Christians. Verse 9 reassures us, "that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering." It's a tremendous help to remember that others are in this faith with us. I have Christian friends I haven't seen for over a decade. Yet, we still pray for one another. This isn't a silly practice pastors dabble in. Praying for one another is God's gift to the church that grants strength to live for God even in persecution.

Every Christian congregation, not just special ones you read about or see on television, every Christian congregation has the potential of strengthening one another to endure the times when following Jesus is most difficult.

As we meet the problems life throws at our faith, Peter instructs us to "cast all your anxiety on" God. The word translated "anxiety" means "care, worry, or anxiety" depending on the context. It's the word Jesus uses to tell us not to worry about ourselves. Paul employs the exact word to talk about his concern for the church.

Are you preoccupied about yourself or concerned about others? Peter says to toss the worries about yourself onto God. God will give you better things to occupy your time and energy — caring for others.

In the gospel of John, using a different word but the same concept, Jesus on the night he was arrested told his students, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Yet Jesus, that same night would tell his students that he was troubled in soul and spirit. Peter learned from Jesus that we should let Jesus be troubled for us. Don't fixate on your problems until they become worries that constantly occupy you and then grow into anxieties that terrorize you.   God cares for us as people. God cares enough about us even to be troubled for us.  Peter says "cast" your cares onto God. Don't be delicate. Heave your problems onto God before they become anxieties. Do it before real problems break out. God cares about you more than you care about your problems.   God won't instantly fix all your difficulties.

Peter says that such struggles test us, and, in the sense, refine us. If we stay open to God's Spirit during such difficulties, God never said, by the way, that the Christian faith is easy. It's just that following Jesus is more important than anything else.

During World War II, a small village in southern Vichy, France, consistently resisted Nazi occupiers by hiding Jews and helping them to escape. The village of Le Chambon with 3,000 mostly Huguenot Protestants was led by Pastor André Trocmé. Without weapons, they nonviolently defied the Nazis right under the nose of their occupiers. By the war's end it is estimated they'd helped save between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews, many of them children. Doing so, they risked their individual lives and the lives of every person in town. Whereas evil is contagious, spreading and infecting people, so the Holy Spirit fills people and spreads the faith to others and grants others the will and the ability to resist evil.

The town of Le Chambon had something enduring to offer not only to fleeing Jews but to the world beyond. Years later, a despairing professor researching the cruelties of World War II and becoming more and more despondent at the state of humanity, read a brief account of the village of Le Chambon and its victorious, practical, and courageous love for others.

Within a year, Philip Hallie was in the village of Le Chambon interviewing those still alive in order to report the events. His book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, records the memories of the folk of Le Chambon. Hallie was a witness to what the village did, and also a witness to our created need for a faith that will recognize and resist evil.

We're better equipped to meet life's surprises, tragedies, and atrocities if we center our thinking upon our Lord's pattern of crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are the outline of hope for us. Jesus' resurrection proclaims that evil doesn't get the last word. God's grace does.

When we're anxious, we especially need to cast our cares upon God who has shown us the pattern that undergirds all of life: Jesus' death and resurrection. As Christians we are part of God's great, grand, and cosmic work. God continues to fight evil through us, to deliver gracious love to others through us, and to bring life from death in us.

God's working in our lives isn't obvious every minute. Sometimes you have to do a little research to perceive what God accomplishes in quiet ways in ordinary people to bring life out of death. We trust that God will restore us, support us, strengthen us, and establish us. Because the Christian faith is centered on God's surprising, recurring grace in Jesus. We'll trust that Jesus' death and resurrection are the pattern of God's continuing grace among us, and we'll cast our cares upon God, no matter the consequences. We affirm our faith with Peter's last statement, "To [God] be the power forever and ever." Amen.