Why is Christianity So Hard?
There are somethings that look easier than what they actually are. When I was a kid I thought being an adult would be a lot easier than it is. You’d get to choose your own bedtime, buy whatever you want, eat whatever you want, or do just about anything you wanted to do. Boy was I wrong! When you become an adult you don’t choose your bedtime, it chooses you. You also realize that although you have adult money, you also have adult responsibilities that come first such as a mortgage or buying boring things like groceries. Sure you could eat whatever you want, but the consequences of eating junk food hit a lot harder when you are older. Doing anything I want to do is not the reality because as an adult I have responsibilities.
Christianity is also something that looks a lot easier than it actually is. The Apostle Peter in his first letter (1 Peter) explained this to the Gentile Christians in Asia Minor. These Christian were discovering that living the Christian life was a lot more difficult than what they believed it would be. They had been told of the new freedom they would have in Christ, but instead found persecution and suffering. These people were new formed non-Jewish Christians that consisted of people that were constantly being harassed and persecuted by their neighbors. Peter essentially writes this letter to help these people learn how to deal with the difficult stuff of being a Christian.
The difficult stuff that the people Peter was writing to were specifically dealing with concerned pagan worship and Roman rule. Ironically, he says to submit to it! He acknowledges that, yes, it is unjust, but violent resistance solves nothing. Remember this is the Peter that initially picked up the sword when Jesus was being arrested. Peter says that though freed by Christ they were still under Roman rule. They are not to demonstrate that freedom by rebellion but instead by resisting evil the same way Jesus did, by showing love and generosity to their enemy. Peter is hopeful that this imitation of Jesus’ love and upside down kingdom will give power to their words, as they show God’s mercy to people and the truth about they way of Jesus.
Why is Christianity so hard? I believe it is the part of imitating Jesus that makes it so difficult. Jesus flipped the script. Many of the rules that people had come to accept were altered and to live as Jesus would be counter-cultural. The same is true even 2,000+ years later. As Christians, many of the things that we accept as cultural norms, are not Christian norms. We are to forgive, even when others don’t deserve it. We are to love our enemy, even when they hate us. We are to show mercy, even when mercy is not given. Being a Christian is not easy.
This Sunday, April 24th we will continue with part 2 of the Tuff Stuff, a series we began earlier this year. We will explore how to deal with difficult people, the complexity of Scripture, and plurality of truth. We hope you will join us as we learn about the Tuff Stuff 2: Difficult Aspects of the Christian Life at 8:30 and 10:45 AM.
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
