This week has been a very dark week in the life of this State and our nation, and in the lives of thousands of people in particular as we face the reality of the greatest loss of life in a single event during our peacetime history. I have been struck with the fact of how greatly people are having trouble to even express what is happening, let alone how to respond to it.
What about us as Christian people? How do we respond to this and any time of trouble or suffering? What makes the difference for us?
I draw your attention this morning to 2 Peter 1:3-4 in which Peter is introducing his letter which deals with the surge and impact of false teaching which was devastating the church. The trouble they were facing was a firestorm of false teaching, and Peter is answering the question of how we withstand and stand in the face of that pressure. His answer is that a right view of Christ and of what He is doing and what it in turn requires of us will enable us to withstand in a day of trouble. Before he embarks on the meat of his letter he reminds them of the basics concerning God and of His work in us by grace – and as he writes in v.12 this is a continual need. This is always the starting point, where we must begin.
Now the trouble was different than we are facing here, but the principle and answer are the same. What makes a difference in facing any trouble in life as in the church is how we view Jesus and what God is doing through Him.
1. A right view of God
It is at a time like this that the world wants us to think less and less of God, to question the power of God and in time to doubt the very presence and ultimately the very person or being of God.
No says peter, we need to have a right view of God. And there are 4 things in particular he draws our attention to as he describes God’s activity in us:
a. His power. Here is one of the clearest testimonies to the deity of Jesus Christ. Peter is unequivocal when he speaks of “His divine power”. In particular Peter is thinking of the power of Jesus Christ in redeeming us (v.2). That power which was evident in the creation and daily within the created world is seen also in our redemption. How else can we explain the change? We can’t. We have been made willing in the day of His power.
b. His goodness (NKJV – “virtue”). This describes that which disposes God to be kind, benevolent, full of good will to people, and of quick sympathy. This is the source of common grace whereby the rain falls on the wicked as well as the righteous, and especially of saving grace and special blessings God bestows on His people. A W Tozer rightly points out that it is this attribute of God that is ‘the source and secret of all blessing’ the greatest of which is the eternal Son of God becoming Man to dwell among us and die for us. Tozer also adds ‘Always God’s goodness is the ground of our expectation.’ In other words, not only that we would know no comfort now let alone hope before us apart from the immutability of God’s goodness, but because of this goodness of God we are full of expectation as we through faith in Jesus Christ look to His hand, to see what good He will be bringing out, even in such dark days of trouble.
We of course rejoice to see these two harnessed side by side. For power without goodness is capricious at best and terrifying at worst. Likewise goodness without power is ineffective sentimentality that only gives temporary feelings of warmth at best, and a cruel hoax at its worst. But in God we find them fully and perfectly expressed and harnessed in perfect balance.
c. His wisdom – we are told that He “has given us everything we need to live a life of godliness”. There is nothing extra to be discovered or to gain access to in order to live the Christian life than what we have obtained through Christ. He has thought of it all, brought everything to us as required. Does this not testify to His wisdom? This is a further attribute that joined to the previous two that gives genuine encouragement and hope, for it tells us that both God’s power and goodness will be perfectly harnessed and directed to achieve the intended and perfect result.
d. His compassion – for we see also that He is a God who promises. Promises are needed while waiting for hope to be realised, they are supports along the road. He knows what He is doing. He is on track. He does not need promises to achieve the end intended, to keep Himself going. They are not given for His benefit but for ours, and that He gives them declares that He is aware not only of our situation but of our constitution. It is a display of His condescension, meeting us in our need. He is not only a God who is good and active, He is compassionate and caring.
As we look at what is happening about us, at what is confronting us, at what is exposing our weakness and frailties, we need to look to God first and above all and to remember that this is what He is like and especially in relation to us.
The mistake we often make is to look at God through the situation, when we should be looking at the situation through what God has already revealed of Himself. We are to see a God who is not only loving but holy and just, who sovereignly yet graciously uses such events.
‘When we know God well enough, we will have found Him to be so consistently wise and full of love in all His dealings with us, that our faith in that love and wisdom cannot be shaken, no matter what He permits to come into our lives. We will be utterly sure that even if we don’t fully know the answer to our “Why?” – God has good reasons for permitting our trouble. And we will be unswerving in our belief that God’s reasons are the wisest and most loving reasons possible. We will be convinced that if we could know what He knows and love as He loves, we too would permit what He has permitted.’ (Ken McFarland) In short by having a right view of God we see we can trust Him.
2. A right view of God’s Word
Peter speaks of the promises God has given us, and he calls them precious.
Where do we find these promises? In God’s Word, the Bible. In drawing attention to the promises he is drawing attention to the Word, and calling us to go and live with the promises. Far from being unprofitable and a relic of the past, the Bible is profitable and helpful to the present situation we find ourselves in.
That they are precious tells us that we should hold them in high regard. To help underscore that it is worthy to notice that Peter likes this word precious, and he uses it frequently with reference to Jesus Christ – 1 Pet 2:4 believers are ‘precious to Him’ because they are part of His spiritual house, the church; that Jesus Himself is its “chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6); and here in 2 Pet 1:1 he says that every believer has received a faith as precious as his own.
That he is using it with reference to the Bible surely tells us how important we are to regard the Bible. It is precious because it is the Word of Christ to His church. As a result it is precious because these words are not and cannot be hollow words, for He who promises is faithful and will fulfil it.
What Peter is doing is calling our attention to the great resource that God has given to us, highlighting that here as we read it we find Christ speaking to us, guiding our path as we step confidently from one promise to the next, strengthening our faith as we take these promises to heart, and supporting our hope as we find these promises lifting our attention to the eternal realities to which we are coming.
We therefore should read, study and meditate upon the promises of God’s Word and apply them to ourselves and our own situations. Calvin talks about the Bible as being spectacles which one with distorted eyesight might be able to correctly see read and understand God’s book of nature. It is the map that helps us untangle the twisting paths of the maze we see as we look at life around us. It is this Word that cries out to us “Comfort, yes Comfort O My people” (Isa 40:1) and declares “So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11).
This is not the time to jettison the Word, or spend more time poring over the paper than the Word. It is in the Word that we will receive understanding as far as God would have us understand. It is here in the Word that we will find comfort as well as renewed faith and stimulated hope. In short by having a right view of God’s Word we see we can trust what He says in it.
3. A right view of God’s Purpose
As we noted earlier the very existence of promises”” is a declaration that God is aware of our situation, but also it tells us that he is responding to our situation. You give promises with an objective in mind, they point you somewhere. What is God’s purpose?
Jesus speaks of coming to give abundant life (John 10:10). What does this abundant life look like? Paul talks about the “good” to which all things are working towards for those who love the Lord (Rom 8:29). What is that good?
How we would answer that? For many inside the Christian church it would be the same as those without: packing my life full of pleasant experiences, in terms of present, personal happiness. The only difference perhaps being that as Christians we should have more of it because God really loves us, doesn’t He? Have we too forgotten today that the Gospel is more about the coming of Christ’s Kingdom than our individual enjoyment?
Peter says God’s purpose, the chief purpose He offers to us, is to deliver us from our bondage to our own evil desires and to make us partakers in His divine nature (v.4). The former phrase speaks of our escape from the power which the rottenness in the world has over us through our fallen, sinful nature. The latter phrase is the same as that of being born again, born from above (cf. John 3:3; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23), and of being in Christ (cf. Rom. 8:1). We are new creations now (2 Cor 5:17) and have the Holy Spirit living in us (1 Cor. 6:19,20). ‘He is changing my heart – how I live and what fruit I bear. His focus is eternal and spiritual’ (Paul Tripp).
Peter says God has given us everything that is needful to live a godly life. But everything doesn’t mean everything to fulfil our definition of happiness. As we read the Bible (eg James 1; 1 Peter 1; Romans 5; 2 Cor 4; etc) that God will actually put hindrances and difficulties in our lives to produce godly character.
A failure to see this will leave us unable to cope in this fallen world. We need to have a right view of God’s purposes, to see what God is doing. The trials, troubles, the sufferings are not some divine mistake, but crucial parts of God’s plan. Yes we may look to God in prayer to remove or minimise them, but never to the degree of dictating terms to Him. Instead we are to trust Him that somehow this will help fulfil His purpose of creating eternal changes in my heart, and glorifying Himself through it.
When we see it this way, these things, despite being so severe to us, are nonetheless not capricious let alone out of control events. They are being carefully managed by God in the exercise of His sovereignty. We must be careful here, in speaking of God’s sovereign will and its outcome we must ever keep first and foremost to our mind as Peter does here the goodness and compassion of God who so wills and works.
When we see things this way we will start to look for the “good” that God is in the business of bringing about. Instead of confusion and despair, there will be anticipation and direction, an ability to move forward.
When we see things this way we will rest content in His will, trusting Him as it unfolds in our lives, leaving the immediate as well as its eternal fruit to Him. Like Daniel’s 3 friends as they faced the threatened fire, we will say, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-19).
By having a right view of God’s purpose we see that we can go forward with Him, under His hand, and that with a sweet confidence. Let us not live day by day without this sense of our eternal destiny and its implications for today’s events.
There are no slick or simple answers to suffering, and in responding to the bushfire’s sufferings we are not to be simplistic. Suffering is complex, related to sin but over-ruled by God for good to those who love Him (Rom 8:28). But we can also trust God. Christians don’t pretend to be able to explain all God is doing and why, but he sees God and what he knows of God and His revealed will fills him with a quiet confidence and inner joy that helps him to rise above the tragedy and to look for its fruit from God’s hands. At the same time both doubting believers as well as unbelievers are encouraged to look to God in His coming to us in the person and work of Jesus. Here is where the real difference is found.