BYOB: Peter
1 Peter 5:6-11
August 29, 2004
St. John United Methodist Church
David Beckett, D.Min.

We need to remember that Peter is writing to Christians during a time when following Christ often meant persecution, torture, and death. Life in this world may be tough now, but a better day is coming.

{6} Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

The word, "humble," means that you don’t think of yourself as higher than anyone else. It is an attitude of the mind and heart that says, "I am not better than you." And so Christians are admonished not to think of themselves as higher than others, especially God. There will come a time when humility will be rewarded.

The power of God that humbles, that puts people in their place, also comforts them.

Peter writes during a time of extreme danger for God’s people. It would be the highest terrorism alert color today. So the wisdom of this time was to be ready; keep alert; danger surrounds you. It would be just like walking through a land where lions prowl.

Notice the word is not to fight against the devil, but to resist him. More about this later. There is a certain kind of comfort that we are not being singled out for suffering. Many others are in the same boat. When suffering enters my life I don’t want to ask, "Why me, God?" But rather, "Why not me?"

When compared with God’s people being raised up and supported and restored after death, this time of suffering will be forgotten. Christians need the eternal perspective that faith in God grants them.

We don’t have time to dive too deeply into this issue, but I’d like to talk with you about evil. When Peter writes, "Resist the devil," what does he mean? Theologian, Elton Trueblood, believes that evil is only a problem for people who believe in God. If you don’t believe in a good, loving Creator then why would you be surprised that evil exists? Trueblood writes, "Only when belief is intense and urgent does the problem arise in a really demanding fashion."

Is evil a problem for you? Do you wonder why bad things happen to good people? For many people reconciling the problem of evil and a loving God is the main barrier that prevents them from a vital faith in God.

Frederick Buechner puts it this way: God is all-powerful, God is all-good. Evil things happen. You can reconcile any two of these propositions with each other, but you can't reconcile all three. The problem of evil is perhaps the greatest single problem for religious faith. In other words evil should be a problem for us!

For many people of faith the issue is not whether evil exists, but rather, in what form? How do we imagine or picture evil? The predominant view is a personified evil….in other words, the devil, a being who is the source and power of all evil deeds in this world.

Two 6-year olds struggled with the problem of the existence of the devil. One boy said, "Oh, there isn't any devil." The other, rather upset, said, "What do you mean, there isn't any devil? It talks about him all the way through the Bible!" The first replied, "Oh that's not true, you know. It's just like Santa Claus, the devil turns out to be your dad." 

Human beings prefer to personify what they don’t fully understand. Ancient native people created animal personalities to explain their world. In the Tsimpsian culture the raven was viewed as a messenger. Early civilizations gave god names to the sun, moon, fire, and wind. So it was natural for biblical people to ascribe a name to evil. Interestingly enough, nowhere in the Old Testament does Satan appear as a distinctive demonic figure, opposed to God and responsible for all evil. The name, Satan, is used but only in specific circumstances.

In the New Testament Satan appears as a distinctive personality who tempts people to act in ways contrary to God’s will. But it is not until the middle ages that the devil began to be pictured as a creature with horns, hoofed feet, and a tail.

Another image of evil is that of a presence or being without a body. This concept is more difficult to understand because there are no physical images. And we are a people who want to see. It’s the same way with our desire to picture God as having human features…you know, the grand old man in the sky image. We often have difficulty picturing God as a spiritual presence without a human-like form.

I remember my brother, Tim, relate a story when he was college. There were students in his dorm who were into devil worship. Tim found himself in their room for a moment, but left quickly. That night he felt a presence fill his room, a presence that was not God. It took a lot of prayer before that evil presence left.

Another way people view evil is with incarnation. They see evil, not as a separate being, but when it becomes acted out or incarnated by humans. In fact some would argue that evil does not exist apart from human beings.

Gitta Sereny, a British author, wrote about Mary Bell, who became one of Britain's most notorious criminals in 1968 when, barely 11, she murdered two little boys and then appeared to have no remorse. Speaking to those who did not want to see the humanity in this girl, Sereny said, "There is this belief that the evil person is evil, period. There's no rehabilitation, no redemption. This is a Christian nation, but the Christianity stops short of redemption. "

Christianity has always held the belief that God loves all people, that all people can receive grace and be forgiven, that all people can be reconciled, even those who give themselves over to evil. But clearly, forgiveness and reconciliation cannot be forced upon a person whose heart is not humble before God.

Here’s the basic point. It probably doesn’t matter how you view evil. Maybe it helps you to picture evil as a male devil figure. Perhaps it helps you to see it as a non-personified presence. Maybe it helps you to look at evil in the face and acts of another human being. The point is that we need to resist evil. We need to be disciplined. We need to be alert. For every one of us is precariously close to the line separating good from evil.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in The Gulag Archipelago, writes, "If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Are you aware of the evil that lurks in your heart? One of the reasons why I think we enjoy movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings is that good and evil are easily distinguishable. And we clearly identify with the good guys which is why they always win in the movies. Since we think of ourselves as good guys we find it hard to see the bad in us. The reality is that behind many of our good thoughts and deeds lie intentions that work against what God wants to do in our lives. We all have a shadow side, a dark place where we are tempted to dwell.
Scott Peck points out that evil is often subtle. Evil resides in the mother of three next door and the deacon in the church down the street. It is not their sins per se, he writes, that characterize evil people, rather it is the subtlety and persistence and consistency of their sins. Sin is not so much the evil as it is the refusal to acknowledge it. And left unacknowledged, evil numbs our conscience.

So evil is not the individual sins we think, say, and do. It is in our repetitive acts of sin without any acknowledgement that we’ve done anything wrong. Our heart becomes hard and pride refuses to allow us to confess our sin and seek forgiveness. This is what Peter wants us to resist. Yes, Peter personified evil by naming it the devil. And yes, Christian leaders have followed suit with some creating images of a red-faced man with horns. But these are characterizations of a reality that rests in the heart of every person on this planet. We must face the darkness in our own hearts before acting on the temptation to criticize and destroy the darkness in another’s heart.

In the climatic light saber fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi," Skywalker cuts off Vader's right arm (returning the favor from "The Empire Strikes Back). It's then that Skywalker realizes that, like him, Vader also has a prosthetic arm, presumably also lost in a sword fight. In that moment, Skywalker realizes their common humanity in their common "inhumanity." In seeing that part which most would see as imperfect and recognizing the same in himself, Skywalker looks at his own gloved prosthetic hand and refuses to finish Vader off.

Yes, there is evil that is working against what God desires to do in the world. But I don’t believe it matters whether evil is personified, detached a presence, or incarnated. What matters is our resolve to resist it from taking root in our hearts. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that you can be forgiven! You can open the dark places in your heart to the light of Christ! And you can allow the strength of the Holy Spirit to resist the evil that tries to destroy the good in your life.

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