Cheryl & I love to read and watch the old Agatha Christie detective stories, so last year we each read her autodbiography. In it Mrs. Christie tells of a teacher at her girls school growing up. She said she couldn’t remember her name, but that one day in class, in the middle of the math lesson that day, this teacher suddenly said: “All of you … every one of you — will pass through a time when you will face despair. If you never face despair, you will never have … known a Christian life. To be a Christian you must face and accept the life that Christ faced and lived; you must enjoy things as He enjoyed things; be as happy as He was at the marriage at Cana, know the peace and happiness that it means to be in harmony with God and with God’s will. But you must also know, as He did, what it means to be alone in the Garden of Gethsemane, to feel that all your friends have forsaken you, that those you love and trusted have turned away from you, and that God Himself has forsaken you. Hold on then to the belief that that is not the end. If you love, you will suffer …” and she said that suffering part of of a real Christian life. (Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, p. 150)
There is a lot of truth in what that teacher said. If we are really following Jesus, then we will face times, like He did, when we will suffer. Last week we saw that in EVERY area of our lives, we are to “trace the pattern” that Jesus left as an example for us. That is a general principle that applies to every area of life. But this command comes in the context of suffering (:19-20) and in the next verses he shows us just what Christ’s example WAS which we are to imitate when we are persecuted or suffer for righteousness:
:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
:22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
How can we follow Christ’s example when we suffer as Christians? Continue reading
shawnethomas 
“4 ‘MUSTS’ For Spiritual Growth” (I Peter 2:1-3 sermon)
On Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Washington called General Douglas MacArthur, who was in charge of the Philippines, to tell him about the attack, and that they would undoubtedly be next. William Manchester, author of the MacArthur biography, American Caesar, writes that as soon he got the call, General MacArthur asked “his wife Jean to bring him his Bible, read it for a while, and then set out for The House On The Wall (Philippine HQ), where the situation was chaotic.”
It’s striking that in the midst of a crisis moment like that, General MacArthur would take time to read his Bible; but it shows you how important he knew that it was. The question is: Do WE realize how important it is, for ourselves, and for our spiritual growth? In our passage for today, Peter writes about how to grow as Christians. He says:
“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”
Here Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, gives us some requirements, “4 ‘Musts’ for Spiritual Growth”: Continue reading →