Three Crosses on Calvary's Hill, Two Paths, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Luke 23:33-43

³³ And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. ³⁴ And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  And they cast lots to divide His garments.  ³⁵ And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying,  “He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One!”  ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine ³⁷ and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” ³⁸ There was also an inscription over Him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  ⁴¹ And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  ⁴² And he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” ⁴³ And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

The place of Calvary is a place of life and death.  So before we talk about the death of Christ on Calvary, let's talk about life first.  Specifically, let's talk about three great incentives for living a life for Christ.

Number one, there is the holiness of our God.  That holiness is best described in Isaiah 6, which is the prophet Isaiah's vision of God.  It begins, "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Above Him stood the seraphim.  Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!'

"And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: 'Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'"

Isaiah is concerned beyond all understanding because he has just seen the glory of the holy God, who cannot and will not stand in the presence of sin.  And Isaiah as a created man realizes his own sinfulness, something that cannot exist in the presence of a holy God.  He is overwhelmed by the sinless glory of a holy God.

Secondly, there is the promised return of the Christ, who has taken away the sins of the world, that we might remain in the presence of a holy God.  While Isaiah felt only shame, guilt and panic at being in the presence of a holy God, 1st John 2:28 advises us, "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming."  John, who has experienced this in his own life, urges us to have confidence in the privileges we have as the children of a holy God.  Throughout the writings of 1st John we are admonished to continue to "live in Him", and to let the word of God "remain" in us, assuring that we will "live forever" in the Son and the Father.  Our abiding in Him reassures the permanence of God's blessings.

Finally, the third great incentive for living in Christ is the cross, that cross itself upon Calvary's hill; the greatest demonstration of God's holiness and love.  The love of the Father sending His only Son to be the bridge back to a holy God for a wayward and sinful humanity.  And then the love of the Son, willing to be born into that sinful humanity.  He became heir to all the pain and sorrow and separation from God that came with it as he died a wrenching death on a wooden cross of torture, hate and punishment He didn't deserve; a load of humanity's sins so wretched a holy God had to look away.  Even before we knew Him, Jesus the Son of God loved us so very deeply.

So let's take a look at what was going on there at Calvary where we find two other men besides Jesus in that same condemnation.  Verses 39 and 40 of our scripture lesson describes the moment: "One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are you not the Christ?  Save Yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?"

Three men hanging on three torturous crosses, and one man, a thief, is so far gone into sin that he mocks the only just man among them.  But notice the words of the other thief.  He acknowledges his own condemnation and speaks out of a sense of repentance.  In verse 41 he recognizes his own guilt, and then he speaks a truth that contradicts all earthly authority, "this man has done nothing wrong.”  That is a truth that Pontius Pilate, King Herod, and all of the Sanhedrin knew, but would not say.  A thief in the final moments of his death contradicts them all.

And yet, while he is to be commended for what he said on the face of it, yet that second thief spoke yet a great spiritual truth in the larger frame of things.  He spoke a truth that is very difficult for most people on earth to acknowledge and admit to, that all people are equally guilty before God.

In this nation today, indeed around the world, one of the hot button words you hear constantly is diversity.  Some say there is too much, some say there is too little, and yet they are all wrong.  Everyone of them ... wrong.  For the great divisions we make among people of the human race have to do with ... RACE ... FACE ... PLACE.  But with our holy God there is but one dividing factor ... GRACE.

There exists no other division among us when we stand before God, nothing else that separates the sheep from the goats, the innocent from the guilty ... except grace.  We can use whatever measuring criteria we wish to claim; birth, money, beauty, it has no standing.  There is no difference before God between your Mayor and the Meter Maid in her police uniform on the street.  No difference between the movie star and the street walker; the doctor and the patient; the warden and the criminal.  None.

Today it seems the hardest thing in the world is to realize that all are lost.  All.  Lost.  All in need of a Savior.

That great preacher Charles Spurgeon knew it, and declared, "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies.  If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.  Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.”

The evangelist C.T. Studd knew it and lamented, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

Evangelist Oswald J. Smith said of all the lost, “Oh, to realize that souls, precious, never dying souls, are perishing all around us, going out into the blackness of darkness and despair, eternally lost, and yet to feel no anguish, shed no tears, know no travail! How little we know of the compassion of Jesus!”

How little we know, indeed.  For Jesus is the friend of sinners.  He has not demanded we get ourselves cleaned up first, but has reached out to sinners.  In John 15:15, we find Jesus saying, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."

It doesn't take an evangelist or a doctor of theology to see that God's entire plan of salvation is made not for the righteous, but for sinners, and that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly.

Take a good look at that hill of Calvary, and see that alongside the Son of God hang two men, two thieves.  Both ask Jesus to save them.  One scornfully mocks Jesus saying if He can save Himself, then save them, too.  The other admits his guilt and asks Jesus, "Lord, remember me."  The first is demanding to be saved from his situation with no thought given to his guilt or repentance.  The second is asking to be saved from his sin.

The first is asking, or better yet demanding a temporary fix.  He doesn't even have the decency to admit his own sin, or to express faith in who Jesus is; "if" you are the Christ....

The other thief is asking for a lifetime change.  All of us are guilty before God, and conviction of ourselves must precede conversion.  No problem can be addressed without knowing, without admitting, what the problem is.

The second thief, in his own agony, has faced the real issues of life.  He admits his sin and accepts that Jesus Christ is his Lord.  He anticipates the resurrection of Christ and has faith in his own resurrection through Christ, and finally, he looks at Jesus in the midst of the Savior's own agony and humiliation, and he sees a King.

When we look to Calvary we need to focus on Jesus, whose entire purpose is salvation.  Even in the midst of His own dying pain, Jesus focused on saving one more soul.  The second thief prayed and Jesus said amen to his prayer request.  Jesus set aside Himself for one more soul.

In addition, Jesus' last moments on that cross answered some very important questions for us.  For example, can one be saved in his dying hour?  Can one be saved after a lifetime of wickedness?  Can one be saved without baptism or communion?  And finally, can one be sure of heaven after death?  Oh yes!  The answer to each of these questions is "yes", through Jesus Christ.

When we look at Calvary, when we look at the cross, we should see all of humanity there.  For the sins of all humanity were certainly at that cross, piled high upon the person of Jesus Christ, innocent, sinless Son of the Living God.  For certain, greater love has no man than this.

Out from the cross, then, just as there were two thieves, there run two paths stretching out across all eternity.  Which one will you take?

Amen.

Jesus, Friend of Sinners, by Casting Crowns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipwEtvWL_3c&feature=kp

Is There Faith in Your Works? by Pastor Ed Evan

Scripture:  James 2:14-26

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[a] is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Just as we don't as easily speak of our illnesses and pills to strangers as we do to our doctor, we are often more willing to speak of personal brokenness or incompleteness with our pastors, or perhaps with a friend whom we know to live the Christian life.

But there are also those who either don't know of, or won't admit to, their own brokenness. I am always grateful when people will ask for prayer or speak to me of problems to which I can extend the hand of Christ and open the conversation to matters of faith.  Frankly, that seems to happen more since I retired than before when I was responsible for leading a church.

So often today it seems the general populace, so many lacking a childhood basis in matters of faith, has become steeped in equating the Christian faith with "magical" words and "the right" prayers, and have missed entirely the power of the simple love of Christ. Too often it becomes a matter of debunking myths of denominationalism that border on cultic leadership, encouraging reliance on truth and logic -- as Ravi Zacharias says, "Let my people think." -- and showing how when we begin to put others first, setting aside our own self motivations, everything else begins to fall into place.

James, in today's scripture lesson, seems to zero in on our human susceptibility to listen to the shout of our emotions even when our rational intellect is telling us something else.  Now, we know that our brains control our hands and feet, the muscles of our tongue, and yet our experience demonstrates these are more often controlled by our sentiments; what we feel more than what we think.

Back in James 1:22, the writer admonished his readers, "You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves."  James is telling us that faith alone cannot save us.  Any claim to faith that doesn't result in proper behavior is inadequate.  As someone has said, "A faith that fails to change behavior had a flaw from the start."

But wait, students of Biblical scripture will recognize that what James has written seems at odds with what Paul wrote.  For example, in Roman 3:28, Paul wrote, "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed the law."  And in Galatians 2:16, in Paul's letter to Galatia, we find, "However, we know that a person isn't made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.  We ourselves believed in Christ Jesus so that we could be made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the Law -- because no one will be made righteous by the works of the Law."

Are James and Paul teaching radically different theologies?

The 16th century theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, for example, believed that James contradicted Paul; that the writing of James lacked the authority of Paul's writing.  But scholars today believe that James, never having seen Paul's writings, was responding to second-hand inaccurate conceptions and misunderstandings of Paul's theology.  James was not condemning the idea that one needs to have faith, but rather condemning those who claimed to have faith but whose actions did not confirm that faith.  In truth, Paul would have agreed with James that faith leads to changed behavior.  For Paul wrote in Galatians 5:6, "Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn't matter in Christ Jesus, but  faith working through love does matter."

Now we see that James and Paul were addressing different issues.

Paul was responding to those who believed their salvation was earned by keeping the Law.  He insisted we are saved by placing our trust in Jesus Christ.

James was reacting against those who taught that we are saved by faith, with some claiming there was no need to keep the moral law; a misinterpretation of Paul's writings. 

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Not everybody who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven.  Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.  On the Judgment Day, many people will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name and expel demons in Your name?'  Then I'll tell them, 'I've never known you.  Get away from me, you people who do wrong.'"  (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus repeatedly speaks about the importance of our behavior, noting in Matthew 7 that good trees bear good fruit.  "All who want to come after me," Jesus said in Matthew 16, "must say no to themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  All who want to save their lives will lose them.  But all who lose their lives because of me will find them."

So we can see that James and Paul agree, and we can agree with them.  But both James and Paul would tell us the issue is not about whether or not we agree.  The issue is do we walk what we talk?  Do we practice what we preach?  Or do we feel we have "spiritual fire insurance" since we believe in Christ, so we don't have to worry about taking up our cross or being radically obedient?

We see mischief and evil in the world today all around us, even among those who claim to have faith.  But what kind of faith is it?  James would say it makes a difference. 

As a young student in grade school, I became aware of the sciences and came to have faith that the earth revolves around the sun, not the way it appears with sun rising in the east and setting in the west.  I have continued to believe that all my life.  But believing that has made no change in my behavior.

Yet at a point in my life, I came to know and believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  As I grew in knowledge and faith, that knowledge and faith effected changes in my life.  I gradually became aware, as Paul wrote, that as a child of God all things were legal to me, but all things were not expedient; that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes; and that as it says in Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what He has done."

The followers of Jesus Christ in America are aware that this nation has often been labeled a "Christian" nation.  But over time it has become increasingly diverse and secular, presenting a particular problem for Christians.  Lying, cheating, pornography, illicit and selfish behavior is all about us, much of it condoned as an individual "right."  We are often called upon to act in concert with family and friends, going along with a tainted and unscriptural culture.  One of the most difficult factors in this life is to live in variance from the prevailing culture.

How strong is your faith?  How do you put your faith into practice?  How does your faith influence your behavior?  How is your life different from that of a neighbor who is not a Christian?

So it is that we see while we are bought with the blood of Jesus Christ and saved by faith in Him, yet our path forward is one of obedience to Him.  If the authorities came to round up all the Christians, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Amen.

What Do I Do When Life is Calling?

by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1st Peter 5:6-7

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

Among the many legendary religious leaders of history, is the Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker, a turn-of-the-century Pastor known as a Preacher's Preacher.  He was once challenged to preach a sermon at 8 a.m., and he filled the church at that early hour.  The church was filled with other ministers.

The reason I bring up Rev. Parker is that he wrote a book of advice to preachers, and paramount among his points was this: "Preach often to those with troubled hearts.'

For no end of reason, here in America and throughout the world troubled hearts are a common plague among men and women.  So today I take Rev. Parker's advice.

And for our text we take a familiar but neglected text: 1st Peter 5:6-7.  The familiarity of such verses is often why they become neglected, but the real reason is often because they are so full and rich with meaning.  Like John 3:16, John 14:27, and Romans 8:28, verses so familiar to our minds that when we go back to them we give them only surface recognition, and the deeper richness goes untouched.

So let's take a good look at 1st Peter 5:6-7, a text for troubled believers.

The very first thing you need to know about this text is that you are in this verse.  For it talks about casting your cares -- your cares -- upon Him.

Face it, so very much of this world that we live in is impersonal.  We live in the age of bigness and numbers, we become defined by Social Security numbers, insurance policy numbers, credit card numbers.  Whether checking a book out of the public library or buying a can of peas at the grocery store, we are bound by the national produce code, scanners and computers.  It's actually disturbing how closely the details of our daily life foreshadow the day when the Antichrist will assign every person a number and require it for anyone to buy and sell.  There are those already recommending that as a method to thwart hackers and electronic con schemes.  And it would probably work since we are all united under amorphous numbers and group plans that make us the faceless customers.

And yet there is still one who knows each and every one of us as individuals, separated all the other trillions of people by who we are to the one who has even numbered the very hairs on our individual heads.  For God doesn't keep track of His own by cosmic computers and scanning devices.  In fact, John 10:3 tells us that God knows His own by name; by our own, individual, un-sameness name:  "To Him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out."  Notice, not only does He know His own, but His own know His voice and are not fooled by imitations.

When I joined Marine Corps boot camp in 1959, one of the first tasks facing the 79 recruits in our platoon was to discern when our Drill Instructors were shouting orders at us on the parade deck where we drilled.  For marching alongside us, behind us, in front of us and across the parade deck from us were myriad other recruit platoons with their own Drill Instructors shouting orders at them.  If the voice of command rang out with "To the rear, march!", we had better not obey unless it came from one of our three Drill Instructors.  Under the dire threat of everything from repeating the entire boot camp process up to and including bruising annihilation, we quickly learned to discern "our Master's voice"!

There is no doubt in my Christian military mind that on a day of my Master's choosing, having spent a lifetime listening to the "still small voice", I will have no problem recognizing the voice of my Savior calling me home.  Incidentally, you might be interested to know where that phrase -- "still small voice" -- comes from.  It comes from 1st King 19:11-13 -- "¹¹ And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: ¹² And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  ¹³ And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

In the same way in which we shall know our God and King, He knows us, each one of us, as individuals, even better than we know ourselves.

Perhaps you remember the story of little Zacchaeus, hiding from Jesus high in a true, from Luke 19:1-10.  He could not hide from Jesus, even among that crowd, high in the boughs of a tree.

And the woman, just one woman among many in a thronging crowd, but this woman reached out and touched the hem of Jesus' garment in Matthew 9:20-22.  Jesus knew who she was.

Oh, and the children.  Everywhere Jesus went there were children playing about Him, dancing, darting, and His disciples tried to warn them away, but Jesus told them not to keep the children from Him.  So many Jesus laid hands upon and prayed over, we see in Matthew 19:13-15, for He knew them.

In fact, we read in Matthew 17:14-18 that Jesus knew even those who were demon-possessed, and didn't forget them.  He had time for them.  He has time for all of us.

But look here, not only are you in this verse in 1st Peter, your cares, your worries, your problems are in this verse. 

What?  You mean my family, my kids, my wife or husband and all those attendant problems are in this verse?  Yes.  My financial difficulties, my future, my job, security, even the public opinions that work against me, they're in this verse?  Yes.  What about my business, the coming depression I'm reading about, the mounting debts?  Yes.  And the disastrous world conditions building up around us, the wars and rumors of more wars?  Even the Damocles sword of nuclear destruction that hangs over our heads and never seems to go away?  Yes.

Every care in your life, every care burdening your shoulders is in this verse.  But here is what you need to realize: cares are roadblocks to blessings.

Remove the roadblocks, the cares, and you can experience the joy of the Lord.  For the joy of the Lord is your strength, as Nehemiah 8:10 explains.  In the Old Testament book of the same name, Nehemiah has taken on the task of rebuilding the wall about destroyed Jerusalem.  He has the prophet Ezra call all the people together and Ezra reads to them from the Book of the Law of Moses, and there is great mourning and weeping for what has happened to the law, to Jerusalem, and to them.  Nehemiah 8:10 -- "Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  In the midst of terrible times, enemies about them, Jerusalem in shambles, God has not forgotten them.  He knows who they are. 

Now, in addition to you and your cares being in this verse from 1st Peter, the Lord Jesus Christ is also in this verse.  For you are casting all your cares on Him ... "because He cares for you."  No one, but no one, understands you like Jesus.  "Does Jesus care when my heart is in pain?"  He cares!  "Who cares when my heart is weary?"  Jesus cares!  He waits to take on His shoulders all of our cares.

Do you perhaps wonder if Jesus cares?  If you have any question, go to the cross.  What He did for you and I on that cross at Calvary carries much more eternal impact than that He cares about our daily trials and tribulations.  And care for us, He does.

Amen.

When Christians Suffer, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1st Peter 4:12-19

¹² 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 “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"  ¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

When I was a teenager in Seattle, Washington, we were always invited to Youth for Christ rallies on Saturday nights downtown near the wharfs and loading docks.  In the 1950s there were not a lot of great things for teens to do on Saturday nights, when there wasn't a high school football game, that didn't involve getting into trouble.  The green forests and blue water of the northwest Puget Sound didn't offer much excitement, but at the youth rallies there was always a lot of music, a big name Christian music star now and then, and it seemed all the prettiest girls went there.  In fact, it seemed like those who were Christian had the best lives, lived well, got the breaks in school, and never suffered.

However, once I became a Christian, I found that was just my perception.  I learned that Christians put their faith in God in tough times and just didn't talk a lot about suffering.  And for most of us, suffering is still an unpopular subject.  You have to admit, talking about salvation is more pleasant than suffering, just like heaven is more pleasant than heartache.

But let's be real here.  As evangelist Ravi Zacharias says, "Let my people think."  Suffering is a real part of life; something with which we all have to deal.

Every hospital we pass says that suffering is real.  Those sirens screaming in the night say suffering is real.  And not only physical but mental anguish is a big part of it.  People like Ann Landers and Dr. Phil have made their fortune listening to people and sharing advice about suffering.  In every city and state we have suicide prevention organizations and hot lines.

And just like the society we are part of, Christians also have trials, but as our scripture from 1st Peter points out, we should not think it strange that Christians have trials.  And yet just as we did as teenagers, on the outside looking in at the Christian life, some people still think salvation means no more trials, no more suffering.  But to think that is to misunderstand what the followers of Jesus Christ are up against in this world.  It's not an easy road to heaven.

There is no way we can avoid facing trials and sufferings, even as Christians, because we live in a fallen world.  We are part of a fallen race trying to make our way in a world of tornadoes and earthquakes, in a world where sin runs rampant  and greed brings violence.

Why is this?  Because of the power of Satan in this world.  We're not home yet.  Everyone in this fallen world is susceptible to the tricks and trials of Satan, but Christians especially are targeted.  Ephesians 6:11-12 not only tells us we have an adversary, but what to do about him: "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.   For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

Followers of Almighty God, because God is truth, will quickly become aware of Satan on the job, as the Father of Lies.  The difference between God's plan and Satan's plots becomes obvious, and there is no need to be surprised by his attacks.

The fact is, Christians have trials because we are on a collision course with this world.  In John 15 we read why Jesus was despised and rejected, because His life was in opposition to the ways of this world.  So you can see that if those outside of God rejected the King of Glory, they're not going to cozy up to those who follow Him.  The followers of Jesus Christ have suffered down through the centuries; it's nothing new. 

But while it is true that just like those outside of Christ in this world, Christians also suffer, the trials of the Christian are different.  In the first place, those who belong to Christ do not suffer alone, but other Christian brothers and sisters stand with him.  The Christian also has the day of glory to look forward to, as described for us in Romans 8:18 where Paul put it into perspective: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

For we can find joy even in jeopardy, just as we read in Acts 16:25, where a Philippian jailer and his entire household were brought to belief in Jesus Christ in the midst of tragedy.  We read, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them..."  And a group of strangers found Christ.  For even in a Christian's darkest hours He who loved us first is still working through us to accomplish the will of the father.

Then, of course, we cannot escape the fact that there are those times when even Christians bring suffering and calamity upon themselves, as verse 15 of today's scripture alludes: "But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler."  Belief in Jesus Christ will not save us from the consequences of our actions.  And lest we think that the threshold for such action must be at the level of murder, we need to pay attention to truths such as we find in 1st John 3:15, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."  Even a busybody is a murderer, of people's reputations.  For loving one another is the law that underlies it all, pulling the claws from anger and hypocrisy, both of which only invite suffering.

For there are those who think they are looked down upon for their testimony, when it may be only because of their meanness.  Christians are not immune from engaging in habits and practices that bring on suffering, and such backsliding results in chastening from the Father who loves us.  Hebrews 12:6-7 reminds us, "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"

So we come to the question of whether we are willing, as members of the family of God, to endure necessary suffering now for glory later.  And perhaps more importantly, are we willing and committed to making necessary life changes in order to avoid bringing suffering upon ourselves?  For in the end our purpose here is not merely to endure suffering, but we have a mission to share the love of God while, as the last verse of our scripture today tells us, "doing good."  Surely a life goal worthy of the family of God is that of giving back, sharing, allowing Jesus Christ to multiply far beyond our abilities that precious love He first shared with us on the cross at Calvary.  In the midst of His own hurt and suffering, He locked that love into you and i with the words, "It is finished."  He loved you then; He loves you now.  Amen.

Let us pray...

Father, hear our prayer on behalf of Your unfathomable love for us.  We praise You, Lord God, as in the midst of our own purposes and self-dreams we see yet Your hand at work in our lives, hear Your voice calling us home.  We pray, in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, for those yet mired in the mud of their own plans and purposes and ask that they might recognize Your directions in their lives, become aware of Your love in the actions about them, and see Your purposes in providing for their rest.  May we reach out to one another with the loving hand of Jesus Christ to heal the broken hearted, lift up the fallen, bring freedom to those yet imprisoned by their own habits and desires.  May we love them, as You have loved us, and share in the trip home.  Thank You, Father.  Thank You.  Amen.