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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Living
In An Anti-Christ Culture
Part 1 Introduction The
Jewish leaders perceived the apostle Peter to be "unlearned and
ignorant". (Acts 4:13 - KJV) I
think we've often misunderstood this perception.
Peter was neither. Just
prior to this accusation he had been a successful businessman.
What he was probably unlearned about were the hypocritical and
confusing details of rabbinical law.
Peter
was not unlearned or ignorant in terms of Biblical theology. In
1 Peter 1: 1 - 2 he uses the words, elect, chosen, foreknowledge, and
sanctification. These are
words and concepts that he understood but theologians have been arguing
over for the last two thousand years. The
general consensus among conservative scholars seems to be that Peter
wrote his first letter in
A
similar anti-Christ culture in which Peter lived is fast becoming the
culture of our day. This,
along with an epidemic of Biblical illiteracy among Christians these
days will make it hard for many to survive what appears to be on an
ominous looking horizon. Let's
see what Peter has to say about surviving a life of suffering in an
anti-Christ culture. Peter
Praises God In
1 Peter 1:3 Peter says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ". It's
amazing that Peter could praise God under the daily threat of death.
Note that Peter wasn't praising the pagan gods of his day.
He was praising the God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Peter understood
something many seem to miss today. Christians
don't serve pagan gods, or in our case, a one god fits all generic god.
Christians serve the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I've
contended for years that Christians talk too much about God and not
enough about Jesus. This
isn't a matter of semantics. It's
a matter of giving credit to whom credit is due.
God Himself has set Jesus in the center of all things until such
time when Jesus hands all things back to Him. (1 Corinthians 15:25-28)
Like God our Father, we need to place Jesus into the center of
our cultural conversation. If
we fail to do so, as I believe many are doing, people will conclude that
we serve their all-purpose generic god.
Of course, once we introduce Jesus into the conversation, we're
branded as being bigoted, intolerant, and exclusive.
If that's the case, so be it.
It's no big deal. The
big deal is the blurring of the distinction between the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the world's generic god caused by the
Biblically illiterate way in which Christians often speak.
The
idea of God isn't the problem in our anti-Christ world; neither was it
the problem in Peter's anti-Christ world.
The Lord Jesus Christ was, and still is, the problem, and because
of Jesus, Peter was executed. If
we choose to avoid the cultural conflict by leaving Jesus out of the
conversation, we can ignore what Peter says.
If we choose to include Jesus into the cultural conversation, we
better pay attention to Peter's counsel.
He speaks from personal experience.
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