John 17:1-11 ^NRS John 17:1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ² since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. ⁶ "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸ for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

1 Peter 4:12-14 ¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

1 Peter 5:6-11 ⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

Text: 1^st Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Theme: beyond elementary resisting

Date: May 4, 2008

Assembly: Zion Lutheran

What a perplexing and heavy little text we read from 1^st Peter

It says two things quite strongly:

1stly - resist the devil

and 2ndlsy - don’t be surprised by the struggles you’re going through

as though they’re something strange

So it basically points out that Christians are expected to resist the devil

But that resisting does not mean you will then get the easy life

unfortunately Peter says the opposite: you must resist and you will be tried

Here’s how Peter puts it:

“Resist him(that is the devil), steadfast in your faith”

and

^“12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal

that is taking place among you to test you,

as though something strange were happening to you.”

This is quite at odds with some of our cultures’ implicit notions of the gospel of prosperity

—which is when you hear things that link material prosperity

and God’s favor to an individual

how sick

1^st Peter leaves no room for such delusion

No instead this less-bestselling topic is what Peter promotes:

You must resist the devil

You will suffer trials

So, we’ve got some ground to cover today:

-Who’s the devil?

-Why resist if you’re going to suffer anyway?

-What about these trials?

-Who’s the devil?

Well, language and understanding keep changing

So that the “adversary” of the Old Testament

Anyone standing in the way of the completion of God’s will

Sounds different from the “Satan” of the New Testament

All that’s in the way of God’s will gathered into one personification

That is, in the NT: Satan represents the powers of evil

Different from the “hordes of devils” of which Luther spoke in his text for “A Mighty Fortress,”

“That fill the land all threatening to devour us.”

And now we get to you and your language

How do you talk about the evil that is in our world

We can use some of the same questions to get at it:

What’s standing in the way of the completion of God’s will?

What’s threatening to devour you?

Is it time or pressure or one of the “ism’s”?

I’m about to suggest that evil goes far beyond the things we do that are not virtuous

That actually what is harder to resist than negative behavior

Is where sin does not only work on an individual basis

But where it has systems of our world

Today, to talk about evil, we use language to talk about how it how it has distorted systems:

Like bodily systems can be distorted by things like cancer and depression

And the ecosystem is distorted by things like Carbon emissions

And a world of peace is distorted by War

“Evil is both real and strong”NIB

It is as dangerous as a famished and lurking lion, so says our text

So conjure up, how frightened might you be

if you were being cornered by a ravenous lion

And then think, what other things could cause you such fear

These are the kind of things of which we must be aware

For it takes power to evoke great fear

And it is ours to figure out the origin of that power

Is it of God?

Or is it out of line with God’s intention?

So the devil can be conceived of quite broadly:

Things that exemplify or conceal evil in the world

-Why resist the devil if you’re going to suffer anyway?

Point #1: it’s not as though if you capitulate that you do not suffer

There is evil in our world

God’s good creation has been broken by sin—

this causes us to suffer

Point #2: it must become clear to us that since resisting evil does not equate the easy life

Then resisting evil is not for the purpose of being safe and happy

You resist because of who you’re created to be:

You are a good creation

Called to be co-creators of good

We all know that we can/and do propagate brokenness

But that’s not what we’re created to do

We’re created to increase wholeness

And you can—and you do—do this

It’s when you do things like support

Lutheran World Relief

or try to see from a point of view that is different from yours

or even recycle

These things are good

These kinds of things are necessary

But these are all things that elementary students do

And I’ve been watching y’all

And you are very talented

And I think you’re called to do this and more

You better give money to the world hurt by disaster

You better try to see things from another’s perspective

You better recycle

But, we better notice that this is only a starting point

And we cannot lull ourselves into thinking this is enough

When we are so capable of looking toward

institutional and systemic change

Why again? Because you are co-creators with God of good

So, we’ve said there’s evil in the world and we talk about it with words like these:

bodily systems can be distorted by things like cancer and depression

So, you scientists, you can be benevolent to the ELCA and create new drugs that

help people interact with life normally

And the ecosystem is distorted by things like Carbon emissions

So, you who care about the environment

can see things from another’s perspective,

but you can also continue to make us aware of carbon emission

and hold us as a congregation accountable to being more green

and then why not lobby nationally for policies that are more green

And a world of peace is distorted by War

so, you average citizen can, yes, recycle

but you can also write to our senators and representatives

making it clear that by all statements of our church,

we are currently participating in an unjust war

We could go on,

But what it feels like,

is that we have lowered our standards of what it means to resist the devil

—we’ve diluted this duty to being more about

not saying 4-letter words

than what’s much more impacting

—to use our God-given gifts to work against systemic evil.

So you resist because of who you are, Children of God.

-What about these trials if we are to resist?

In our suffering, we participate in the suffering of Christ

And yet, this is not dismal for us—for paradoxically our hope is in this suffering.

1^st Peter says:

^“10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

We are buried with Christ so that through our baptisms we might be raised with Christ

CC was never my favorite sport (in fact, I quite dislike running)

But cross country was the best team I was ever on

But I think it’s because day after day you suffer together

And you cheer for each other

And you count as a team

And finishing the race matters more that placing

I think first Peter invites us to the same conclusion:

That we are at our best when we:

Suffer together

Cheer for each other

Count communally

And finally, when we finish the race.

And in the midst of any of our struggles, the text tells us to:

“Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you,” (1Pt. 5:7)

Pray this text:

Faithful creator, the world is falling apart

Great physician, we are hurting

Judge, we feel singed by your judgment

Restore us Support us

Strengthen us Establish us Amen.