Feeling the heat

by Pastor Paul Naumann

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now 'If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?' Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator." 

— I Peter 4:12-19

In Christ, Whose sufferings we share as Christians, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Have you ever seen how a sword is made? The other day I watched a PBS program about an old Japanese sword maker. It focused on the time and craftsmanship involved in producing an authentic samurai sword. The old man spent weeks working and shaping a piece of high-quality steel. After a long time, it began to look more and more like a sword. The most important step of all came right at the end - it was the tempering of the steel. The sword was heated white-hot in a forge, and then plunged sizzling into a pool of ice water. This process of tempering - heating and cooling the metal - gave the sword incredible strength. The old man said proudly, "Hundreds of years from now, long after I am gone, this sword will still be strong!"

There is a tempering process that we Christians go through, too. Trials in our lives that are hard to live with, but make us stronger. Troubles that subject us to terrible heat, but help us to endure and be better servants of Christ. The source and degree of heat will be different in each individual's life, but the Bible is very clear on one point: every Christian will feel the heat! This morning our text talks about:

"FEELING THE HEAT"

I. ...from the world. II. ...from God.

Our text really talks about two sources of heat in the life of a Christian. The first is the heat we feel from the world. We're told to expect it: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings." Jesus felt the heat from the world too? You bet He did! Practically from the very first day He was born! Our New Testament reading for this morning told about how King Herod hated the baby Jesus, and plotted to kill Him. While Jesus was still an infant in swaddling clothes, his parents were forced to flee to Egypt to escape Herod's death squads. Thousands of innocent babies were slain in the effort to kill the newborn King. From that point onward, Jesus' whole life was a chain of suffering and persecution, and each link in the chain was tempered with sorrow and tears. He lived a life of constant poverty: "Foxes have holes," Jesus said, "and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." — Matt 8:20. The jealous scribes and Pharisees were constantly on His back, trying to trip Him up in His teaching. One of His own disciples turned traitor and betrayed Him to the Romans. A crazed mob of Jews screamed for His blood. Finally, Jesus was subjected to most painful and humiliating form of execution there was - death by crucifixion. Jesus went through the fire, alright. He felt the heat from the world. His spirit was tempered to the point where He could endure the agony of the cross in order to secure your salvation and mine. Praise be to God for that!

There's an old country western song in which a woman tells her husband, "I never promised you a rose garden." In writing this letter to the believers in Asia, Peter is saying much the same thing. That being a Christian is no bed of roses. They were already feeling the heat from the world in which they lived. They were ridiculed for not taking part in the drunken parties of the heathen. "In regard to these," he said, "they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, and they speak evil of you." — I Pet 4:4. Worse yet, Peter knew that things were going to get even hotter for the Asian Christians. A time was coming when they would be imprisoned for their faith. Beaten, tortured, burned at the stake and fed to the lions for the amusement of the crowds. And Peter tells them, amazingly, to rejoice in these sufferings! "Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." When the world is pressing you hardest, he says, that's how you know that the Spirit of God is with you! And on the Day of Judgment, when the glory of Christ is revealed, you'll see that it was more than worth it! The heat of the world tempered the faith of those Christians. The persecutions, far from nipping Christianity in the bud, strengthened it...made it into a mighty empire that has lasted right down to this day!

Peter's talking to us, too. Inviting us to share in the sufferings of Christ. To feel the heat of the world. It's not quite the same for us, though. The heat has shifted somewhat in our day and age. God has blessed us Americans with a government that protects our right to worship as we choose. We don't have to meet secretly in someone's home to hold services, like they do in some third world countries. We don't get thrown in jail for being a Christian, like they do in Bulgaria. In fact, you might be thinking to yourself, "Things haven't been very hot for me as a Christian - in fact, I'm pretty comfortable!" But God never meant for believers to get comfortable in this world. We are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Temporary residents in a world that is constantly trying to get us to go along and relax our standards. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Everybody gets drunk once in a while, so forget about what the Bible says about being sober and vigilant! Cheating on your taxes is standard procedure, so forget what the Bible says about obeying the government! Obviously, the best way for young people to get to know one another is to live together, so forget about the Sixth Commandment! Don't be a stick in the mud! Get with the times! --And if you don't, you're going to feel the heat. If you haven't been feeling much heat lately, maybe you should take another look at what your lifestyle is saying about you to other people. If you have been feeling the heat, you should be happy, for Jesus said, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." — Matt 5:11-12.

The second part of our text talks about another kind of heat that is applied to our lives, and that's the heat of sufferings that God Himself sends our way in order to correct and strengthen us. "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now 'If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?' Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator."

The correction that God sends into our lives can be very hard for us to understand. Peter reminds us that God's judgment upon sin begins with us believers! He wants us to remember that we are "scarcely saved"...in other words, that there's only one thing separating us from eternal destruction - our Savior, Jesus! And to keep us from losing sight of that fact, God is constantly applying the heat of correction in our lives. To bring us back in line, and keep us from hurting ourselves spiritually. The Bible says, "It is for discipline that you endure chastening: God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons." — Heb 11:7-8. God's chastisement is always out of love, and it's always for our good. But sometimes it sure hurts!

There's a true story about a woman who was vacationing in Switzerland. One day she took a walk in the hills, and came upon a shepherd with his sheep. One of the sheep was lying down, and appeared to be hurt. When she looked at it closely, she saw that it's leg was broken. She asked the shepherd how it had happened. She was shocked when the shepherd told her that he, himself, had broken its leg. "Of all the sheep in my flock," he said, "this one was the most disobedient. It would never follow where I led, and was always wandering to the edge of dangerous cliffs. Not only that, but it kept leading other sheep from the flock astray. So I broke its leg. The first day I went to feed it, it tried to bite me. I let it lie by itself for a couple of days, and went back, and now it not only took the food, but licked my hand in submission and even affection. And let me tell you something. When this sheep is well, as it soon will be, it will be the model sheep of my flock. No sheep will hear my voice so quickly. None will follow so closely by my side!"

Much of the suffering that God permits in our life is just like that. God will do whatever is necessary to bring us back to His side, even if it means pain for His dear children. "When we are judged," Paul says, "we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." — I Cor 11:32. God knows what's best for us, even when we can't see it. God knows exactly how much heat to apply in order to temper us, and make us strong enough to meet the challenges that will confront us in life.

As we stand at the threshold of the new year, we know beforehand that there will be trials to go through and challenges to face. For each one of us there will be suffering as well as joy, hardship as well as happiness. I think we all tend to ask God to remove those sufferings from our path. But maybe we've been praying for the wrong thing. It's good for us to feel the heat; the heat the world puts on us, and the heat our loving God applies as chastisement. It will temper us, and give us the "metal" we need to live our lives as God's faithful servants. Perhaps, instead of praying that God remove the hardships, we should take the advice of the evangelist Phillips Brooks, who said, "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks!" In Jesus' name, AMEN.