Do not fear

1 Peter 3:13-17 NASB

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?  But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their  intimidation, and do not be troubled,  but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always  being  ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;  and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.  For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

My thoughts -

My dear friend Aaron Mansfield posted some questions on his blog yesterday after learning of a pastor friend who was severely beaten in India for his faith. He wonders aloud if our zeal for evangelism would hold up to persecution.

I wonder, too if we could endure through persecution. Sure, American Christians (especially in the Bible belt) like to cry persecution every time some cultural issue doesn't go how we want it to (as though all Christians have a like mind on every issue - but that is a conversation for another day). But we are pretty well established in this culture and ultimately Christianity here is in the majority.

It is very difficult to get elected to public office without expressing faith in God, for instance, and that God is almost always described as the one we worship. This is in spite of the fact that our Constitution forbids any religious litmus test for elected office. While the Constitution may not permit it the public demands it. For all the talk of an attack on God and religion here both seem blissfully unaware of any immediate peril.

How would we respond if we really were under attack? How would we respond if we really were being persecuted? How would we respond if we were in an overwhelmed minority and faced ridicule, beatings, and death simply for believing what we believe and living out our faith. This is the world that Mansfield's friend lives in. And this is the world the early church lived in; the people Peter is addressing with this letter.

Peter asks who is there to harm those that do good? In my mind this echoes Paul in his letter to the Romans. ("If God is for us who can be against us?") While some may ridicule, slander, and try to intimidate you, Peter says, they will ultimately be put to shame. It is better to do what is right and suffer for it than it is to not do what is right and also, ultimately, to suffer for that as well.

These seem like odd words of comfort. They concede suffering, either one way or the other. You can do God's will and face hostility from those who seek to prevent you from it, or you can fail to do God's will and take your chances with the wrath of God. Suffering could happen either way. It's better to do what God requires. It is better to do what is right than what is wrong.

So how do we play this forward to today and a culture that seems to tolerate Christianity an awful lot more than the one Peter lived in? Have you tried taking a stand on an issue that "the world" doesn't want you to? Challenge consumerism in this culture and see how far that gets you. Challenge the conflation of God and country that permeates our patriotic ideals and identity and see if there isn't a bit of cultural push back. Hold firm to the gospel above and against pop cultural ideas of what the gospel ought to be and see what happens. Be a little odd, a little weird, a little different, and see how people respond.

The problem I think we have here is that we are awfully comfortable with culture. We have our churches that sit in the suburbs surrounded by the trappings of comfort, security, and affluence, and we in silence support a culture that favors the powerful over the powerless, the rich over the poor, the fat over the hungry.

We, as a nation, do a pretty poor job of caring for our poor. We have a greater interest in protecting the "free speech" of corporations and their "right" to profit from abuse and exploitation than we do in caring for the least, the lost, the broken, the sick, the poor, the imprisoned, and the hungry. We look the other way as our brothers and sisters starve. We believe "shared sacrifice" is ideally concessions from the poor for the rich. Sure, we want to help people, but not if that means the rich have to pay more taxes.

We criminalize addiction and lose generation of the poor and minorities to prison because that is more comfortable for us that treating their medical issues. We wage "war" on ideas, on ideals, on issues, and on our own people. We invade other countries and bomb and kill as many or more innocent civilians as we do military combatants. We do this with no objective. There's a lot of money to be made in it.

Maybe if we the church took a stand against culture on any of these issues (and countless others) we might find what it is like to be persecuted. But we have stopped doing good. We have stopped being a prophetic voice for God against culture. We have assimilated. We are comfortable. We have too much to lose.

Have we learned nothing from scripture. God, no matter how much it may seem otherwise, is still in control. We have nothing to lose in following God. If God is for us who can be against us? We are comfortable and complacent. We don't have the stomach for persecution. We cry persecution any time we don't get our way as though we have an inalienable right to control everything.

And yet controlling culture is not our calling. Being a prophetic witness is; doing what is right is; caring for the poor, the lost, the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the oppressed, the afflicted, the hungry, the imprisoned, the powerless, and the least of these is. And we are not doing our job.

We need to do what is right. We may suffer for it but right now we are suffering for not doing it. And the world is suffering for it as well. And Peter makes clear in this passage that it is far better to suffer doing what is right than it is to suffer not doing so.