Our Calling
September 29th, 2008 by DanielPosted in I Peter, Ponderances | No Comments »
I Peter is the letter in which we, the “elect exiles” for Christ, are given such grand distinctions as being a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession.” So when Peter says, in 2:21, “to this you have been called”, it is interesting to note that he is not referring to our status as a holy nation or our new vocation as kingly priests. Those are our privileges, but our calling is far more pride-stripping:
For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. - I Peter 2:19-21
Our calling is to mirror Christ. These words are addressed specifically to servants, but the context suggests that all Christians bear the same responsibility to properly submit when submission is due, making all of us servants in some sense. This ludicrous servitude is what we have been called to do. Just as our Creator, the highest authority in the universe, submitted Himself to the mocking of His creation, so we are to follow in His steps. Jesus showed the world His theology (i.e., His understanding of the Father) by submitting to scorn, beatings, and death, since His understanding of the Father caused Him to treasure the Father’s will. If we are to be faithful theologians, then we are called to show our hearts’ treasure by doing good and gladly enduring unjust suffering for it.
This is the highest calling.
The Prospect of Cannibals
September 25th, 2008 by DanielPosted in Borrowed, Missions | No Comments »
John Paton (1824-1907) was among the first to bring the Gospel to the untamed New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. From his biography:
‘Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was,- “The Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!”
At last I replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.” ‘
O that I would have such a heart, abandoned to the glory and Gospel of Christ!
Are You A Babe?
September 6th, 2008 by DanielPosted in I Peter, Ponderances | No Comments »
When I read the following quote from Edmund Clowney, in his commentary on I Peter, I readily connected to his point: “The wonder of a mother at the birth of a child becomes delight at the readiness of her infant to feed. Any delay at feeding-time brings a powerful reaction from the tiny person. For an infant, milk is not a fringe benefit.” I have seen this image played out in my own little family many times in the past seven weeks:
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. -I Peter 2:2
“Peter writes to young churches; he has in view many who have only recently confessed their faith in Christ and been baptized. Some were no doubt senior citizens; they are nevertheless newborn in Christ. They must have an infant’s desperate desire for basic nourishment.”
O that we could learn to be childlike in our hunger for the deep things of God’s Word!