Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Nothing Left to Lose

There is something indomitable in the life of someone who has nothing left to lose.

A person who has reconciled himself to achieving a goal at any price is a force to contend with. It doesn't matter whether the goal is noble or base. It doesn't matter if its displayed with reckless abandon, or dispassionate coolness. They can't be intimidated, bought, or distracted. These are the ones who can say "...or die trying" and really mean it.

Take a look at the life of Peter. He gets a bad rap sometimes. (My wife wrote a great post about it.) He had something of a dramatic change his life. He went from the being the guy who couldn't look a serving-girl in the eye and admit to even knowing Jesus, to an Apostle who was jailed, beaten, and eventually crucified (upside-down, if you please) for the Gospel's sake.

Why the change?

Some would point to Pentecost. Some would point to the Jesus praying that Peter's faith not fail.

I suggest that it was the post-resurrection conversation he had with Jesus.

First, in John 21, Jesus mirrored His first meeting with Peter. (No fish caught. Throw out the net again. Miraculous catch. Peter realizing his sin in the presence of holiness. Jesus redefining who Peter was to be --fisher of men-- and Peter leaving all to follow Christ.)

Peter had just received a huge shock from realizing the impotence of his self-reliance. He was profoundly humbled. He had deserted His friend and God when it counted most. The bravado, even cutting off some one's ear to "defend" Jesus, were worthless.

Peter needed a Mulligan. He needed a fresh start. Jesus was gracious enough to gently restore him to be what was previously promised.

But look at what happens next. After the "do you love me? / feed my sheep" exchange (notice the affirmations of Peter's love were equal to his previous denials), Jesus says this:

I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."
The same One who confidently and accurately predicted Peter's greatest failure, namely the public denial of Jesus Christ, does something amazing. With that same confidence and authority, he predicted that Peter will live to become old. He will be faithful to the end, and that he will faithfully face a martyr's death.

You are no longer Simon! (reed, flimsy, vacillating)
You are Peter! (a rock, stable, sturdy, reliable)

This stop-and-start Peter became someone who faced the Jewish authorities fearlessly.

Why? Because he now understood that he really was in a no-lose situation.

So, what if he's opposed, beaten and jailed? His life is already forfeit, what more can people take? Comfort? Dignity? Reputation? None of these will matter. The martyr's death is not like the modern romantic notion we have. It is the death of a condemned criminal.

Peter had seen Jesus lead by example. He, the Lord of Glory laid down His life.

Peter now has assurance that this time, he will not cower and renounce Christ in favor of whatever he was afraid of losing. Why fear men whose power to hurt us ends when the body dies?

Look at the tone in his Epistles. Notice the high view of God's Sovereign Authority. There is a striking contrast between his views of this passing world, and of eternity. Suffering is no longer something to be dodged and avoided. Hear the grit in Peter's words:
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1,2 )
Peter has now embraced the lesson of carrying his cross daily, living (as the world sees it) the life of a condemned man. But what is that in light of the exceeding, eternal riches in Christ?

Paul went through something similar: At his conversion, Paul's future suffering was announced up-front. (Not very 'seeker-sensitive' of Jesus, now was it? Later, when someone prophesied that Paul would be jailed, he answered:
I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 21:13)
What about Jesus? Even our Lord went through a period of reconciling Himself to the suffering He was to go through.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked His Father if there was any other way. He was in anguish. It was going to be horrible.

He faced His trial and execution as coolly as He did, because when He was alone in prayer He reconciled Himself to the will of His Father. They were not taking His life away -- they could not! He had, there in the Garden, already determined to lay it down. It was a fait accomplit.

The cure to the self-indulgent brand of Christianity we see around us must be to do as they did.

We need, I suspect, to rediscover the sort of prayer that submits the heart truly to God's will and Glory, however much that will and Glory might inconvenience us.

After all, what's the worst the world can do?

Kill us??? And then what?

Did the early disciples think that as horrifying a thought as we do? No.

But then, they loved God's kingdom far more than they loved the World, didn't they?
They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not love their lives in the face of death. (Rev 12:11)

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