Save me from hardheartedness
From evil and deceit
From mutiny and unbelief
Turn and return me
From wandering away
From petrifying slowly
Make my heart pure
Open to you
Wanting what you want
Make my heart true
Confident in you and your Word
Hearing and Doing
Make my heart noble
Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger
Rejoicing in your direction
Jesus
Heart of my heart
Keep me soft and steadfast in your nail scarred hands
Extended quote by John R. Wimmer, Blessed Endurance
The words joyrejoice as they appear in James and First Peter do not mean what they seem at first glance. The rejoicing we find here is not a shallow, syrupy, or optimistic refusal to admit that problems exist; instead, it is the realistic recognition of struggle bolstered by the decision to rejoice in knowing that God is working to bring us through strife to greater spiritual depth. Yes, it may be tough if not impossible to rejoice when suffering, but such joy will not take the form of emotional jubilance or elation.
James proclaims that suffering may be considered as joy when the encounter produces the spiritual virtue of steadfastness. And steadfastness, when allowed to flower into fullness, produces the most attractive bloom of all qualities: Christian maturity.
Authentic Christian maturity, then, is a steadfastness that we attain not by denial. It is a quality that, like any other kind of maturity, accrues with age, hard work, and a lot of bruising experience. It is the ability to redirect our thoughts beyond immediate woes in order to realize the spiritual growth that results from tests of faith.
Simon Peter was The Rock long before Dwayne Johnson
Peter started the last supper strong and sturdy. Jesus starts talking about his death and to love as I love. Peter replies, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
After the supper, when Judas and the mob of soldiers arrive in Gethsemane, Peter pulls his sword to defend Jesus. Did he make the first strike? Peter cuts off a slave’s ear. Jesus stops the fight, heals the slave, leaves with the soldiers under arrest.
When all the other disciples scatter, Peter and beloved disciple trail Jesus. Still solid as a rock.
But before dawn, Peter will crumble. Denial-Denial-Denial. Peter isn’t even able to stand up to the stares of a young servant girl.
What happened? Why do deeply faithful people blow it? Can you recover from it?
Sometimes we blow it because we make a self-centered choice, like Judas
Sometimes we aren’t prepared. We don’t have enough information. We don’t have the skills or connections we thought we did.
Sometimes we might be well prepared on a human level, but we aren’t spiritually prepared
In Mark 9:29, Jesus healed a child his disciples couldn’t. Jesus said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”
Ephesians 6:12 say, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Sometimes we blow it because it’s the evil one at work
Luke 22:31-34. At the Last Supper, Jesus says to Simon Peter 31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 And Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”
Why did Peter blow it? One reason, Satan demanded to sift Peter like wheat. Satan demanded an extraordinary time of testing.
Look closely verse 31, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat.
You ever felt this way? Life is crushing- health issues, strained relationships, financial stress, what’s safe now feels unsafe.
Satan made the same demand of Job in Job 1:9-12 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”
God doesn’t bring the trial. God allows it. Satan demanded a crack at Job and now wants a crack at Peter. If he could break Peter, Peter the Rock, Peter the Gibraltar among the disciples, it would break the spirit of the movement.
Satan’s not going to repeat Job’s hell of losing everything- family, health, wealth, home, reputation. Satan chooses a different tactic for Peter- sift him like wheat.
3 Parts of Wheat
Straw = stock on which the heads of grain grow
Chaff = husk that holds the kernels
Wheat = Nutritious kernels themselves, the part you can eat
Get to that kernel, you have to sift it. That means 1. Threshing it and 2. Winnowing it
You can beat the heads of wheat with a stick. But for larger production you need
Threshing floor- a large, circular, flat, hard area to scatter the wheat.
Then an ox to pull a sledge- a large piece of wood (3×5 feet) with stones or iron spikes inserted into the bottom. This cuts and crushes and breaks the wheat all at the same time.
After that, the winnowing = using a large pitchfork or basket to throw the threshed grain into the air. The chaff will blow away and the good kernels fall to the floor.
Peter’s on the threshing floor
Do I grab a sword and fight? No, Jesus rebuked me for that in the garden.
Do I testify on his behalf? A lot of good that would do. I’m a fisherman and they’re influential, educated leaders.
Do I just watch and listen so I can rally the disciples in the morning?
Peter’s spotted and questioned again and again and again. The grinding of the sledge. Denial- Denial- Denial.
Peter hears the rooster crow. Peter turns his head and sees Jesus looking at him. Now it’s the winnowing. It’s all up in the air. Peter wants to catch everything that’s been flying out of his mouth and try again take a stand. It’s too late. He’s already falling.
The cutting, crushing, breaking, everything up in the air, the falling
It’s a time of extraordinary testing. We will face it, too. The good news is we can make our way through it and come out the other side stronger and better for it, just like Peter. How?
31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Seeing Peter fail and fall, the Savior utters no words.
No “I told you so.”
No shaking of the head in disappointment
No lowering of the head in disgust
Jesus’ look is sympathetic, compassionate. It is a look of one who knows what it’s like to fall under the threshing of Satan. Jesus has been there, too. For forty days in a barren wilderness. He knows how crushing it is, how hard, how painful, how ruthless the adversary.
Jesus also knows God works it for good, for victory. Jesus shares that victory with us.
Why do deeply faithful people blow it? Sometimes it’s the evil one at work. Can you recover from it? Yes, yes and yes. God doesn’t bring the trial. God allows it. God works it for good.
31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
James 1:2-4 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
Quote by John R. Wimmer in his book Blessed Endurance
The rejoicing we find here is not a shallow, syrupy, or optimistic refusal to admit that problems exist; instead, it is the realistic recognition of struggle bolstered by the decision to rejoice in knowing that God is working to bring us through strife to greater spiritual depth. James proclaims that suffering may be considered as joy when the encounter produces the spiritual virtue of steadfastness. And steadfastness, when allowed to flower into fullness, produces the most attractive bloom of all qualities: Christian maturity.
Peter is a smaller man now, without the thick husk that once surrounded his life. He is broken and he is bare. The chaff and the straw have been blown away. The good, heavy wheat remains and is collected for use.
In the time of testing, Jesus will see us through. We will be stronger and better for it. Hold on to hope.
*****************
I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Sean and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or join us live on our Facebook page at 9am Sundays, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.
Save me from hardheartedness
From evil and deceit
From mutiny and unbelief
Turn and return me
From wandering away
From petrifying slowly
Make my heart pure
Open to you
Wanting what you want
Make my heart true
Confident in you
Holding fast
Make my heart noble
Quick to listen
Rejoicing in your direction
Jesus
Heart of my heart
Keep me soft and steadfast in your nail scarred hands
Extended quote by John R. Wimmer, Blessed Endurance
The words joyrejoice as they appear in James and First Peter do not mean what they seem at first glance. The rejoicing we find here is not a shallow, syrupy, or optimistic refusal to admit that problems exist; instead, it is the realistic recognition of struggle bolstered by the decision to rejoice in knowing that God is working to bring us through strife to greater spiritual depth. Yes, it may be tough if not impossible to rejoice when suffering, but such joy will not take the form of emotional jubilance or elation.
James proclaims that suffering may be considered as joy when the encounter produces the spiritual virtue of steadfastness. And steadfastness, when allowed to flower into fullness, produces the most attractive bloom of all qualities: Christian maturity.
Authentic Christian maturity, then, is a steadfastness that we attain not by denial. It is a quality that, like any other kind of maturity, accrues with age, hard work, and a lot of bruising experience. It is the ability to redirect our thoughts beyond immediate woes in order to realize the spiritual growth that results from tests of faith.
The temptation of Jesus in the Desert by William Hole. Public Domain
Matthew 4:1 (NRSV)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
James 1:12-16 (NRSV)
Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved.
Let the enemy rage at the gate,
let him knock, let him push, let him cry, let him howl, let him do worse;
we know for certain that he cannot enter save by the door of our consent. – Francis de Sales
Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole.
Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in. – Billy Sunday
Everybody is tempted. It is a myth that says you’re going to get to a point in your spiritual life where you’re not tempted. In fact, the more mature you become, the more Satan is going to put you on his “most wanted” list. If we were more consistent in confessing our temptations, we wouldn’t have to confess our sins.– Rick Warren
It is a mark of the evil spirit to take on the appearance of an angel of light. He begins by whispering thoughts that are suited to a devout soul and ends by suggesting his own. -Ignatius Loyola
Every life is a march from innocence, through temptation, to virtue or vice. -Lyman Abbott
Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before. -William Butler Yeats
Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man;
it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction. – John Owen
There is no greater victory of evil than the reaction of guilt and despair which it arouses in those who have committed a sin, or of fear, anger and hate in those who have been wronged. Conversely, there is no greater victory over evil than to refuse to give in to these feelings, to refuse to act on them, to harbor them or justify them. We defeat evil – in ourselves, in others or in the world – when we refuse to react to it with more evil, but respond to it with repentance, forgiveness, and love. -Irma Zaleski, The Way of Repentance
We usually know what we can do,
but temptation shows us who we are. -Thomas Kempis
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
1 Peter 5:8-10 (NRSV)
Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.
Jesus went to the wilderness – a place of wild beasts and demons; of roaming, tormented spirits; the dangerous meeting place of God and frail human beings; the strange abode of ministering angels. Here the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking souls to devour. In Lent, Christians are called again to the soul’s desert, but without John the Baptist for an Advent guide. Rather, as John of the Cross wrote, we go forth with no other light or guide than the one burning in my heart.
– Suzanne Guthrie, Until an Opportune Time
I saw all the devil’s traps set upon the earth,
and I groaned and said, “Who do you think can pass through them?”
And I heard a voice saying, “Humility.” -Anthony the Great
Temptation by Steve Garnaas Holmes
God, I confess
I want the power
to make things as I wish them,
to turn stones to bread, this to that,
to have the world as I desire, not as it is.
I renounce my hunger for power.
Your love alone is my power.
I confess
I want to manage what others think of me,
I want authority, status, belonging,
the kingdoms of the world.
I renounce my hunger for status.
You lone are my belonging.
I confess
I want the security of freedom from pain,
from risk, from sacrifice,
as if I could leap from a height and be unhurt.
I renounce my fear of suffering.
You alone are my security.
Spirit of love,
be my power, my security, my belonging;
overwhelm the fears of my ego
and re-direct my desires,
that I may trust you, belong to you,
and bear your love alone.
I breathe your love.
I breathe your love.
Amen.
Psalm 31:1-5 (NRSV)
In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
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