David Bahn – Reflections

By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. ¹³ She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. ¹⁴ Greet one another with the kiss of love.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ. – 1 Peter 5:12-14

“God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense” is a good way to think of grace. God’s goodness, gifts, blessings, and benefits come to at the expense of his Son, Jesus. In other words, God’s grace is expensive, but the cost is not paid by us who receive it; it is paid by Jesus himself – by his life, suffering, death, and resurrection, culminated by Jesus return on the Great Last Day.

Silvanus was perhaps the letter-carrier for Peter, and called his “faithful brother.” As such he was also a blessing of God’s grace to Peter – and to us since he served to record Peter’s teachings by which this letter is preserved to us today.

when you think of the true grace of God, we must think first of Jesus’ gift of eternal life and the hope we have in his resurrection and the life of the world to come. But when God also sends people into our lives who help sustain us in that grace and in our lives as servants of the gospel, we can thank God for that grace as well.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Peter 5:6-11

Peter’s call to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand is coupled with the promise that God will exalt us at the proper time. In fact it is only from an attitude of humility before God that we are able to be exalted by God. Sometimes God does an alien work of bringing us low so that we can look up to him, and seek his mercy.

But what if we are humble before God and yet suffer difficulty and hardship? A woman wrote to me expressing that feeling of confusion and discouragement as she imagined that he suffering was because of God’s displeasure, or something she had done wrong:

I asked myself over and over, day after day, month after month and then year after year what I had done for such pains to befall me. I still have no answer to that. … in one realm I felt called to defend biblical principals of forgiveness and reconciliation and in the other realm called to give to a foreigner (soon to be my own family) as I would give to my own. In both, my heart was wide open and so very unprepared for the outcome of exactly the opposite response.

We must not ignore another source of difficulty and suffering in our lives. Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is the enemy of our souls, the father of the lie, and the deceiver of women and men. He insights people to visit pain and suffering upon others. He even tempts God’s very own people to turn aside from doing good and staying true to his grace and truth.

Satan is a ravenous source of trouble, suffering, pain, and despair in our world. He is our enemy, committed to our doom. The God of all grace, has called us to his eternal glory in Christ. He will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. That is why we renounce the Devil and all his works and all his ways, and rejoice to acknowledge that God God belongs dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Peter 5:7-11

Some good friends taught us to play bridge several years ago. We learned things like ruff and sluff, demand bids, jump shifts, and preemptive bids. In a bridge game a preemptive bid effectively shuts out your opponent, preventing them from winning a rubber, or preventing them from putting you into an untenable position, forcing you to bid under duress or preventing you from taking the bid and calling trump.

Peter speaks here of doing something not unlike a preemptive bid. If you’ll permit me, our act of self-humbling preempts God’s harsher love being leveled at us. God’s harsher love is that which comes to us in the form of difficulty, suffering, hardship, or failure. God loves all people at all times. Sometimes, however, his love comes to us disguised as trouble and suffering – designed to turn us from an evil path toward his perfect grace and goodness.

If we are filled with pride, arrogance, and hubris, we not only hurt our neighbor, but we harm our own souls. In His love God may bring difficulty to us so that we seek him and learn the hard lesson not to “kick against the goads” (cf. Acts 9:26).

If we humble ourselves, living in an attitude of humility before God and mercy toward our neighbor such tough love is not required. God promises to exalt those who humble themselves. And when we do suffer – whether or not we need tough love – he directs us to place our anxieties and burdens on him.

Tomorrow we will look more closely at the place of the devil in our suffering and troubles. But for today we embrace an attitude of humility toward God and mercy toward our neighbor. We cannot ever preempt God, but we can certainly refrain from prideful haughtiness that begs for God’s rebuke.

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ² shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; ³ not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. ⁵ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” – 1 Peter 5:1-5

We were in Kenya with PLI International. PLI-I is a leadership and mission training group that has had far-reaching impact in Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Brazil, and some other countries they cannot publicly acknowledge. In Kenya the “big man” is everything. If you are a “big man” that means you have power, sway, impact, and influence. People defer to you if you’re a “big man.” Although it has little to do with one’s stature physically, it doesn’t hurt to be of large stature.

During the presentation to a group of Kenyan pastors our teacher began making some important points about leadership and privilege. He expressed again and again that a pastor’s title was not something to be used to gain influence or impact. In fact, he said, we are to serve others; our calling was one of service and ministry not of honor and privilege.

At the end of the presentation a Kenyan pastor (who I had known to be somewhat of a “big man” in the Kenyan church) stood up and spoke to the group. I cringed as I thought what he might be about to say. But the Holy Spirit had worked in his heart and brought him to a conviction that every pastor in Kenya needed to hear the teaching he and they had just received.

Our leader’s teaching and the insights Peter offers above shaped those pastors on that day. It was a good day for the rule and reign of God in the Kenyan church.

I try to keep this in mind as well. I have a high privilege of serving as a pastor of a large and dynamic church. I do all that is within my power not to lord it over others, or to use that as privilege, but to shepherd and guide God’s people with a humble spirit. Where I fail, I pray for God’s forgiveness. Where I succeed, I give all glory to God.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And

¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. – 1 Peter 4:12-19

During WWII the British endured much hardship, suffering, fear, and dread as 60,595 British were killed by Axis bombers. This was certainly a time for the famous British stiff upper lip. Even before the bombing began a motivational poster saying, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities.

Peter calls for the early Christians to something possibly similar, but far more grounded in the certainty of God’s goodness and promises in Jesus. His counsel was not to be surprised, and to draw near to God, seeking his comfort and the assurance of his presence.

Years ago a church member was experiencing severe injustice. I was able to offer a deeper comfort. I reminded her that whenever we face unjust treatment we are more deeply in fellowship with Jesus – if we draw close to him and seek his help. That’s the key.

When we suffer unjustly, we can choose to raise a fist in frustration, demanding that God explain himself! That’s truly what we do when we cry “foul” in the face of persecution, rather than calling out, “Lord, have mercy!”

In those times of testing, trial, terror, and trouble, we are not to be surprised. Jesus endured an even greater injustice. For God not only allowed his Son to be put “in the dock” (as C.S. Lewis would express it), but even to be slain by sinful man. He endured the most grave form of injustice so that we might receive his mercy and grace.

More than not being surprised, moreover, God invites us to turn to him in humility and faith. Better than the WWII saying are these words: Keep the Faith and Do Good.

Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer. Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins., Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Peter 4:7-11

I’ve never run a marathon; nor even a half marathon. I doubt seriously I ever will. But I do go to the gym three days a week, and engage in some pretty intense exercise. As the final round of the workout begins, I begin to look forward to the end of the class – except when there is the dreaded finisher! That’s usually a super high intensity combination of lifts, squats, or lunges that truly lives up to its name: finisher. Once it’s over I’m finished; happy to have don it, but finished for sure!

Peter speaks of the end of all things being near, and draws some conclusions from that which takes into account not only the end, but the relationships we have with others in the body of Christ. His calling is two-fold: prayer to God, and love for others. He reminds us that we must forgive one another by applying copious amounts of love to our fellow Jesus follower. He urges that we use the gifts we have received for the good of others in accordance with God’s power and our neighbor’s need.

The purpose of that is twofold. By living a life of love and grace we glorify God, and encourage and support our brothers and sisters in Christ to remain faithful. We reorient ourselves and our neighbors to the true north of God’s glory and power. We acknowledge that making it through to the end is possible through mutual love, hospitality, service, and the admonition of God’s word.

Some people don’t finish well. They burn out or rust out with little thought of God’s proper place in their lives. Only with the help of others and the grace of God will we finish truly well. If they were true then, they are even more true today. O Lord, help us to finish well!

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. ³ For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. ⁴ With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; ⁵ but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. – 1 Peter 4:1-6

What do we make of v. 6, above? Is Peter saying that people who have died are able to hear the Gospel, repent from their sins, believe and be saved? A better understanding of this verse flows from the verses immediately before, as one commentator suggests:

“Those who are now dead seems to refer deceased believers in Christ. When they were alive, the gospel was preached to them. While on earthy they were judged by men in the fleshly realm, or condemned and martyred on account of the gospel. But they now live by God in the spiritual realm, heaven. – Holman Christian Standard Bible, Study Bible Notes, Broadman & Holman, Pub.

More important than speculation about the dead is the clarion call for us to to avoid living as the Gentiles do, “in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” Peter even says that they are likely surprised the Jesus’ followers don’t just go along and join in on the same revelry!

Perhaps the question ought to be: When was the last time I surprised someone? Or: Do I realize that when people ridicule me for my faith, my stance, and lifestyle choices, they are really expressing surprise at my dedication to following Jesus? They might actually be convicted by your example because of their own failure to resist temptation to something that they know is immoral.

Having been saved by Jesus’ death, through faith in God’s promises centered in Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection, and second coming, we now embrace the whole council of God and live a life that is markedly different from the world. In doing so we may experience ridicule. But thank God we have the Gospel!

Even if we experience ridicule and rejection, we can be confident of an eternal blessedness and glory of heaven. Eternally blessed. Eternally joyful. Eternally alive. The whole council of God points us to that hope.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. – 1 Peter 3:18-22

I was not raised in a church that baptized infants, but I cannot remember a time that I did not believe in Jesus. In fact, although I didn’t question it at the time, when my first grade Sunday School teacher asked if I had “become a Christian”, I was puzzled. I didn’t understand what more I had to do than to believe in Jesus…which I already did. This was the teacher who had her Bible on her desk, opened to a picture of Jesus on the cross. She was a wonderful Christian lady. What she was really asking was whether or not I had been baptized. For her – in an odd sort of way – baptism sealed the deal. But it wasn’t about God’s activity in baptism. It was about my active confession of Jesus, and “submission to the ordinance of baptism.”

When our youngest son was born circumstances dictated that he be taken to a children’s hospital 40 miles away. I remember baptizing him in the NICU. A styrofoam cup of water, Stephen, Diane and me (no nurses as witnesses, or elders or friends from the church). What was I thinking?!? I was thinking that upon baptism there were certain promises in the Bible that applied to this little (3#, 12-1/2 oz.) guy. I recall the sense of peace I had as soon as he was baptized. God had put his name on him. He belonged to Jesus. He was marked with the grace and the promises of God connected with that little bit of water.

This passage could be taken out of context of the whole of Scripture to the point that we might open up a fire hose on every unsuspecting passerby and announce that they had been baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But the Bible is clear about the essential element of faith to our eternal salvation. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We have been saved by grace through faith. We are justified by faith apart from works of the law. (cf. Hebrews 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:28)

Some have said this makes too much of baptism, turning it into a mechanistic operation tantamount to lever-pulling or spiritual engineering. But that is to make too little of baptism! Baptism is an instrument of God’s favor by which he pours grace upon grace. Baptism saves because it connects us to the promises of God in Jesus Christ, by whom we have been saved. It seals the deal that God made with himself when he sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

The first time I attended a Lutheran Church service I really appreciated the Apostle’s Creed. I believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth… “Yes! I believe that!” That was my thought. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate…He descended into h…. “No. I don’t believe that.” The creed says, “He descended into hell.” But I had not been introduced to this passage from Peter. I now say it with confidence, He descended into hell. The third day he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Yes. This I believe.

Imagine a late night poker game in the bowels of hell on a certain Saturday night. Satan and his evil angels are sitting around congratulating themselves on the coup: They had killed the Son of God! Glad hands all around. They are elated. Suddenly there is a sound at the door. It’s Jesus – the Son of God – and he’s alive! He has come into the depths of hell to proclaim his victory over Satan to Satan and all the evil angels and all those who were in his evil vice.

We don’t know what Jesus said, and we won’t venture a guess. Even the Lutheran Confessions refuse to say much more than the fact that that Jesus didn’t go there to suffer, nor did he go there to give them a second chance. Then comes this conclusion:

For it is sufficient that we know that Christ descended into hell, destroyed hell for all believers, and delivered them from the power of death and of the devil, from eternal condemnation and the jaws of hell. But how this occurred we should [not curiously investigate, but] reserve until the other world, where not only this point [mystery], but also still others will be revealed, which we here simply believe, and cannot comprehend with our blind reason.

Nor had I ever encountered the words of 1 Peter 3:21, …Baptism…now saves you…” That is for another day, and we will consider that tomorrow. For today we will rejoice in what Jesus has done, and his complete victory over Satan and his victory parade into the depths of Satan’s domain.

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ 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, ¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. – 1 Peter 3:13-17

Nicky Cruz of The Cross and the Switchblade fame has a dramatic conversion story. St. Paul has a dramatic conversion story (cf. Acts 9). Many life-long Christians have no such dramatic story. We don’t have a time when we were in full-tilt rebellion against God, or completely disbelieving or denying God’s rule in our hearts. We have struggles to be sure, and many failures to live out fully what we believe. But those pale in comparison to the likes of St. Paul, St. Augustine, John Wesley, Martin Luther, or Nicky Cruz.

We do, however, have hope. And when the days grow dark with discouragement, or long with fear, our hope can bolster us and allow us a platform to give witness to God’s work in our lives.

My story is punctuated with challenges and joys growing up. As a first-born son of a Christian father and mother, I do not remember a time when I didn’t believe in Jesus. I remember standing on my parents’ bed, singing Jesus Loves Me while getting ready for Church. I remember being baptized at First Baptist Church, at 8 years of age, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

I remember also wandering from a fully faithful following of Jesus in high school and my early college years. But I thank God for my friend Jerry who introduced me to a darkroom in my junior year of high school, interested me in photography, revealed that he was a believer in Jesus who wanted to be a Lutheran pastor. He convinced me, ultimately, not only to join the Lutheran Church, but also to study for the ministry and serve as a pastor in the Lutheran Church.

The hope I have is that God can redeem a completely unmotivated, unsuccessful, and unlikely real estate broker, and turn a boy who graduated in the bottom 10% of his high school class into a student who excelled to the extent that I have an earned doctorate degree (Doctor of Ministry, a professional, rather than an academic degree) from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Trust me, that is testimony to God not to my abilities or success. It’s a message of hope that I hold to: God can redeem the lost, the wayward, the confused, the tired, the angry, the hopeless, the floundering, the wayward, the misdirected, the sinner of every type and kind and the saint that still carries the scars and scales of sin and spiritual blindness, and all too often stumbles.

I have made plenty of mistakes in life and in ministry. I have had too many failures of ministry to count. I have given up all too quickly. I have lost my will and travelled an all-too-well-worn rut of rebellion. But I have never been without a God of redemption or hope. Jesus redeemed me, a lost sinner. He sent his Holy Spirit into my heart and I believe in him. My heavenly Father calls me his Son. I have been saved. That is what I believe, and why I have hope in my heart.