It Wasn't Suppose to be this Hard—Reflections on Knowing Jesus inside the American Spiritual/cultural Empire
- Livinginbetweenall-Terry
- Jul 24
- 11 min read
Updated: Aug 1
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you,
as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ,
so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ,
you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal,
or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian,
do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name"
(I Peter 4: 11-16).
"The end of all things is near.
Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray"
(I Peter 4: 7 NIV).
Turning Troubling Times...
around, in my mind
I haven't been able to pray much lately. In fact I feel so far removed from Peter that I've wondered, at times, if I am a Christian at all. Truth be told, I'm too like Peter for my own good, as I wrestle—as Peter does in this letter, some 20 centuries removed—with the same tensions that perhaps troubled him internally and within a world ill at ease with the Gospel of Jesus; the very Name Christian, a weighty stone around our neck.
Like Peter's in his early ministry, my own betrayal of Christ lives within each day. Unlike Peter, Jesus and a lifetime of living into his calling had given him great assurance that in the end he will never again fail Jesus in this way. It began at a meal with Jesus and a few disciples in a Fishing Auxiliary held in Galilee and in a conversation with Jesus that followed. “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21: 15b NIV). Jesus asked three times, echoing his three betrayals on that dreadful night. Then Jesus gives Peter the assurance that indeed he would, in the end, freely choose to follow Jesus into deaths face.
Unlike Peter, three years after my betrayals I do not have such assurance, only the keen awareness that I will not because I will not ever again inflict such pain on those whom I love. That is not the same. In fact it's not reassuring at all. Still, I will follow, live and pray for a deeper and more complete repentance and healing.
Turning the Times...
around, in Peter's mind
In the middle 60's A.D. Peter admonishes these Roman Christians that Emperor Nero's current political, economic and spiritual environ has a way of focusing the human heart that simply trusts to God 'the fiery ordeal,' "because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV).
To the vulnerable, slaves, women, Jews and members of 'The Way' (Christ followers) the cross of Jesus cut two ways. It represented God fully identifying with the shame, the cultural isolation by Jesus willingly laying down before Roman might "a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem" (Isaiah 53: 3b NIV). Yet the manner of his life lived, suffering and teachings demonstrated concretely that power may compel, but it cannot defeat a 'spirit of reverence'.
The very name "Christian"—an adjective conjured up by the powerful to demoralize these weak pathetic followers of a terrorist criminal slapped down by Roman power—is turned into a mark of honor. Peter, in this passage instructs these vulnerable followers of 'The Way' to embrace the identity of 'Christ Follower' turning the pejorative 'Christian' into an epitaph, an iconic symbol worthy of praise as they take the Name Christian, as their own; praising "God that you bear that name" (I Peter 4:16b).
For citizens of Rome, who were proud of their City-State bringing order and peace to a world engulfed in chaos and conflict, the under-current of official hostility to their Master, the Son of God, was deeply troubling. They were Roman long before they were Jeshua's disciple. As Peter's letter and their own eyes reveal in the darkened streets of Rome now ablaze with the gas torched bodies of their fellow believers lit up like lamp posts, the Fiery Ordeal was upon them. A new kind of national reverence would have to replace the easy patriotic pride of which they had become comfortable, for the prophet had spoken; "The end of all things is near" (I Peter 4: 7a).
I'm amazed at the Biblical writers understandings of their own times and places, the often subtle and sometimes direct appeal to or contrast with cultural, ethnic or tribal values, beliefs.
Peter's letter to 'Jesus followers' in Rome and in its near Provinces is one such letter. He seems aware of the approaching or perhaps immediate need for his listeners to, 'in reverence' like their Savior, "participate in the sufferings of Christ, ...so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed" (I Peter 4:13-reversed order). This short letter of Peter is pastoral; some would say the writings of a Bishop or Pope.
It is here, inside the Glory that is God's that we need turn from the 1st to the 21st century.
Turning the Centuries...
to now
It would appear that we are in another time that clearly looks as though the "end of all things is near" (I Peter 4: 7a NIV). The chaos in the world is certainly capable of overwhelming every vulnerable peace or rapidly escalating the current conflicts. Our gathered intelligent, nuclear, laser, conventional or adaptive technology weapons can most decidedly draw the major powers into a nuclear confrontation effecting every continent. A-I can facilitate lethal algorithms that we who are human may not or perhaps cannot anticipate, much less stop.
Within the realm of spirit Yahweh's ancient enemies appear active and in conflicts that seem irreconcilable; evil remains a stealth reality within and between humans and unseen forces living in dark spaces. Personal and national addictive patterns are re-wiring new generations vulnerable to the hunger for intimacy.
Economic integration, national and international debt and new technologies empower international businesses and governments toward systems easily manipulated to the interests of a few who effectively control the many. The political, cultural and technology systems that the 'man of sin' that St. Paul and St. John speak of rising are uniquely available in our time.
Israel, one of two unfolding revelations of a restorative future, is locked in a multi-ethnic, inter-communal spiritual battle for survival. Power. not grace filled love, is the primary metric that the nations of the earth look to for salvation.
I have been conversant since about twelve years of age with the evangelical, dispensational and American interpretation of prophecies that just now seem to be unfolding before our eyes. It was my generation that came of age soon after Israel's re-birth and witnessed as if ring-side, Jerusalem's capture, recognition as the Eternal Capital of Israel by the U.S. and the ever increasing rise of Jewish movements in Israel focused upon expansive use of the Temple Mount, establishing the Priestly protocols, offices, rituals, persons for a 3rd Temple. I shall never forget the personal and overwhelming sense of God's Spirit speaking to me at age 12, from Ezekiel 38-39, disclosing in my young heart the nations that would align themselves against Israel. In tension with my Wesleyan understanding, a little boy watches the unfolding power plays with horror; for it true, God might just be horrific.
From college forward I have moved to a far more Wesleyan hope built upon God as Creator/Restorer of all things, in and through the life, teachings, passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Biblically, I always ask how the first hearers interpreted a prophetic message before applying it to later generations and have become convinced that all of the major prophetic messages in the early Church were quite literally fulfilled in the first and second century, the caveat being the legitimate awareness that God often layered meanings applicable across time (Continuing Historical) or to two separate, yet related events (The Literal and Spiritual Meaning). An example is Isaiah's prophesy to Ahaz that before a woman (a virgin) could marry, give birth and raise a child to the age of awareness a deliverer would come. That clearly was fulfilled in Ahaz's life and through the son of his new wife, giving birth to Hezekiah.1 The Church has also rightly interpreted it's spiritual fulfillment in Jesus human/Divine birth.
My sermons slowly dropped the term holy-love, favoring love as fully descriptive of the very beauty, purposes and majesty that is God. I have, unlike the Church as a whole, retained my firm belief that God's purposes in Israel remain, the Church being grafted in as a renewing reality, but not a replacement of Yahweh's covenant with God's beloved Israel. That conviction was initially (and remains) awakened in a study of Romans 9-11, seeing that God's eternal purposes can only be realized with Israel, not apart from, given:
Israel's rejection of Jesus formed the cross as salvation for all (Romans 11: 11-12,15), and;
The Church's partial success would eventually lead to Israel's reconsideration and acceptance of Jesus as Messiah (Romans 11: 25), and;
God has uniquely allowed all persons individual and accumulative sin to be the very basis of God's mercy being given to all (Romans 11: 31-32).
As in all areas of life, I look for the both/and rather than the either/or. In this area, if it takes Divine Power to accomplish the 'reign of God's holiness in love' through a renewed Israel, it is a deep disappointment and means the Church as a living sign of Jesus has manifestly failed. Nevertheless, a literal, spiritual, political incarnation of Israel is as critical in a restored, shalom and Messianic filled earth as is Jesus and His Body in preparing humanity's soul for such a future outcome.
Turning the Years...
to now
"The end of all things is near.
Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray"
(I Peter 4: 7 NIV).
What are we to do in such times as existed in the first century, and I believe exist now? Our role is to be alert, rational and increase our inter-active prayer. (I Peter 4: 7b NIV).
The following are my reflections in light of this text and the continuing 'Waking Up' that I sense God is doing in my life. To these ends:
1) I am seriously re-thinking the human need for a Divine Numinous, 2a an awe filled trembling before God, recognizing the Creator's Holiness, Majesty encapsuled in Love. Increasingly, I believing we/I have made God too safe, sacrificing 'goodness' on the altar of 'unconditional acceptance'.
2) Re-emphasizing the very Wesleyan thinking that 'all our sins,' both:
a) Those conscious and chosen and;
b) Those that are re-active or reflective of the wounds, attitudes, prejudices that flow through humanity from our 1st parents—are atoned in the Jesus event (Life, teachings, passion, death, resurrection). From before time (Ephesians 1, Revelation 8:13b) the cross was experienced in the imagination and heart of the Trinity of God, giving complete forgiveness and grace to all humanity; the only part of that which is provisional is our personal consciously chosen sins, as they require a relational inter-active response to be made real. Hence Wesley taught that any falling short of God's glory (sin improperly so-called) and violation of God's known will (sin properly so-called)3 require and are atoned4 for.
3) Judgment and Accountability are intrinsic and necessary to the Divine/human relation as Creator, creature. Judgment, Biblically, is always redemptive in purpose; Designed to awaken each human to the real cost of our sin. Accountability is likewise restorative in nature.
John Lenin imagined a world without religion, nations, possessions, hell or heaven, a world at peace; asking us to "imagine all the people Liv'n for today". Such a world, whenever and wherever attempted results in heightened violence, mob rule, and chaos, for human nature requires meaning, context, devotion to values and purposes beyond the self. It is the very "Glory of God's uniqueness", apart from, yet in relation to all life that frames our sense of wonder, fear as trembling awe, reverence, boundaries and the very love that gives each/all of us value.2b
God is neither capable of nor guilty of an anger that is hostile in intent or purpose other than is necessary to assure loving reverence; the holding as 'sacred' life's gifts and creative possibilities (James 1: 13-18, Exodus 34: 6-7, Psalm 103: 8, 145: 8). Judgment and accountability play critical and necessary roles in our 'becoming' (James 1: 2-8, II Peter 1: 3-9): A kind of emotional lostness, emptiness or even narcissism are potential results of a life lived without boundaries, mentoring or a cultural values centered in God's Eternal character.
4) We who are human are unique in our ability to reflect God's goodness, God's communal love. It is this incarnational gifting that speaks to our purpose in every generation. Like Israel we are to bless the Nations with the love and purposes of the Creator; to renew our humanity in a dependent relationship with the ground of our being—holy-love. If we fail to do so, especially in times like these, we will have forgotten the greatest blessing we have to offer; The Trinity of God's character and love is seen most fully in Jesus and nothing in history past or the present or the future can contradict that eternal and relational reality—for truth is a Person. As Peter put it, "repentance must begin with the house of God. If we don't get it, who will?" K, its a paraphrase.
5) Starting and ending in prayer, ours is to think, feel, question, reflect a life of faith lived in a chaotic world whose center we know and yet, do not know, as one day we shall. We long for, await and live into the day when the Kingdom of our Christ shall become the Kingdoms of this world. When Shalom rules every heart.
Blessings! Terry
07-22-25
1 For a wider telling of the Story of Hezekiah, see my children's book.
2a-2b "The Numinous experience" is defined by Rudolf Otto, a German theologian of the early 20th century, who writes eloquently of the human, almost primal, intuitional need and capacity to experience the Holiness of God as 'Trembling Awe'. If you are interested:
3 In the 18th & 19th century debates between Calvin and Armenian theologies, John Wesley walked a practical, human and pastoral path. He appreciated Calvin's emphasis upon assurance in so far as it necessitated Divine initiative and nurture and was equally insistent upon the need for salvation to be inter-active; a Divine initiative requiring a human response, though that response was also the work of Divine grace enabling sanctification.
At the heart of one potential divide, the definition of sin, John Wesley's both/and response is clearly seen in what he terms "sin-so called" to include every human wound, addictive potential, dysfunction of character or emotional health, unconsciously so. Wesley defines these kind of infirmities as a 'falling short of God's Glory,' the result of human frailty derived ultimately from our 1st parents. He brilliantly understood that, as such, we need and have universally been given atonement in Christ's death; an insight sadly forgotten by many who followed him.
His objection to calling such human weaknesses 'sin-properly so called' was his desire to retain the primary understanding of sin in relational terms and hence 'chosen,' which he defined as "a violation of the known will of God."
I believe Wesley's largess of theological insight into sin's reach and the need for and extent of God's gracious response remains the largely over-looked theme underlying his 'way of salvation,' prevenient grace, and the basis of his universal sense of God's offering of salvation and our ability to respond. It needs to be re-discovered, as it retains the best in 'holiness' sensitivity, the extent and necessity of God's grace and the need for human humility, indeed reverence, if we are to walk in Jesus footsteps.
4 Atonement: The significance of Atonement is sometimes lost in the myriad of theories surrounding its meaning; many of which are counter to what we've come to know in the Trinity of God through the life, teachings, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. However, a doctrine of restoration that doesn't take into account the depth and extent of human brokenness and the cost to the Communion of God (Trinity), the environment, the Cosmos, the angels, ourselves, our family's, tribes, cultures and nations, humanity—from our chosen sins—will fail to form the very humility that is salvation begun, and growing. For a unique, though incomplete over-view of some of these themes get my book:
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