Christians Are Backwards!

4th Sunday of Easter, 5/3/20
1 Peter 2:19-25


Christians Are Backwards!
I. Backwards in our believing
II. Backwards in our living


I don’t have any solid statistics to support the opinion I’m about to share with you. It’s just something I’ve noticed, and maybe you’ve noticed the same thing. It seems to me that the enemies of the Christian church have retreated somewhat lately, and I can’t help but think that the current pandemic has something to do with it. The media is so saturated with pandemic coverage, that, perhaps they aren’t paying any attention to anti-Christian activities in our world, if in fact they’re occurring. What’s more, I’ve even seen and heard blatant Christian messages of encouragement. Have you noticed the same? It’s heartwarming!

But it won’t last. As soon as things begin to get back to normal, the assaults on the Christian faith will resume. And I’m not being pessimistic. It’s always been that way. Jesus said it would be that way.

But when I refer to the assaults on the Christian faith, I’m not necessarily referring to the physical assaults on Christians; I’m talking about the constant barrage from our world that states how backwards Christians are. It paints us as completely out of touch with reality, with society, with truth. But that’s nothing new; it’s always been that way.

Historians relate that Christians were doing the “backwards” thing during a pandemic in the early 4th century. Healthy people fled the cities to avoid the plague, but what did Christians do? They remained in the cities and cared for the sick and dying. That’s backwards!

But that was also one of the periods of explosive growth in the Church. How did that happen? As Christians lived “backwards” lives, they shared the gospel with the people in their communities. And the gospel works! It’s the power of God for the salvation of sinful people.

This morning our worship focus is one of the most heart-warming pictures of our Savior in all of Scripture. Our focus is on Jesus, our Good Shepherd. St. Peter closes his words to us this morning by stating that very truth. He calls Jesus the Shepherd of our souls. And what makes Jesus our Good Shepherd is that he laid down his life for us, his sheep. That’s backwards! And, out of love for him, we’re backwards, too. Christians are backwards! Let’s see what that means as Peter explains it to us this morning.

Part I.

This past Thursday’s morning news was quite positive. There’s some medical evidence that a certain drug is somewhat effective against Coronavirus. More scientific study is needed, but that’s promising. What’s more, scientists at Oxford University think they might have a Coronavirus vaccine ready for use this fall. That would be incredible! What’s more, the positive messages, which are so needed right now, continue. You see them daily—messages about people going out of their way to help others, and messages of thanks to all those who are doing what they can to make a difference. We’re all in this together!

But I hope and pray people don’t take this too far. What do I mean? I’m confident that we’ll be able to defeat this virus. We’ve been blessed with the best medical and scientific knowledge and skill in the world. But we need to keep our human capabilities in proper perspective. I fear that, when this is all over, people will celebrate how great we are and leave the only true God completely out of the equation. Why do I fear that? Because humanity has a sinful propensity for it. It’s our natural sinful opinion of ourselves.

What do I mean? We naturally believe in ourselves to overcome every problem, including the problem of sin. Would you like some evidence? The vast, vast, majority of people in our world are under the delusion that they are fine without God. They’re under the delusion that, if there is a god, they can do what that god demands so that they can have a good relationship with him now and in the life after this one. Just look at all the good things people are doing today! They’re good people! Surely God is pleased!

That type of thinking goes all the way back to Cain, history’s first unbeliever. Cain knew who the true God was. He even spoke directly with him. But Cain did not trust God to forgive him. Instead, he trusted in himself to offer God the right sacrifices so that God would be good to him.

And that’s the way humanity has thought ever since.

But Christianity is backwards! Peter says it like this, “He himself [Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” Those words of Peter sound very similar to what Isaiah wrote about the Savior 700 years before Jesus was born. You see, that’s always been the truth. We can do nothing about our sins. No amount of self-sacrifice will erase a single one, and we commit more sins each day than we can count. The total number for any sinner is unimaginable. But Jesus bore the punishment for every single one of them. Wait a minute! The innocent One dies for all the guilty ones? That’s backwards! Exactly!

And because he did so, he is our Good Shepherd. Listen again to Peter’s words, “For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” The Shepherd who died for the sheep calls us to himself through his gospel. He makes us his own and he keeps us as his own…forever. We don’t keep him; he keeps us. That’s backwards! Exactly!

That Good Shepherd is also our Overseer. He’s not an authoritarian dictator, nor a power-crazed tyrant. He’s our loving and faithful Overseer who is always watching over all things for our good, both now and forever. He’s using his power and knowledge for our good, not his own good. That’s backwards! Exactly. And by God’s grace, we believe it. And that’s what makes Christians backwards.

St. Paul once wrote that God chose the foolish and despised things of this world to save us. In other words, Christianity doesn’t make sense to the human mind. That’s because grace doesn’t make sense and grace is why our God did what he did to save us. God doesn’t give us the punishment we deserve; he punished our Good Shepherd instead. And he gives us the heaven we don’t deserve. That’s all backwards, but that’s God’s saving truth.

We’re living in a very confused and uncertain time. So many of the things we knew and enjoyed are gone. The things we were planning on won’t happen. But through it all, one thing you can count on is your faithful God. As backwards as it sounds, he did for you what he required of you. His Son, your Savior, did it all when he died for you. And then he rose again to be the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul forever. And we believe it, as backwards as that sounds. Thank God we believe it!

Part II.

I have a question for you: to whom did Peter write these words of this letter? The answer will likely surprise you. He wrote them to slaves. That’s right. Slaves. I’m not going to speak about the issue of slavery in the Bible or what slavery was like during the time Peter wrote these words. Those are topics for a Bible study, not a sermon.

But listen to what Peter tells these slaves who were Christians, “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” He tells us that it’s good if we suffer. That’s backwards! How can that be good?

First, realize he’s not telling us that we should go out of our way to suffer. He’s not encouraging us to invite others to harm us; that would be encouraging them to sin. It would also reveal a rather warped psyche.

Likewise, he plainly tells us that it’s not a credit to us if we suffer for doing something wrong. If we did the crime, then we should do the time. That’s NOT backwards.

What’s backwards is this: suffering for doing what’s right because of our relationship with Jesus. To the world, that’s backwards. But that shouldn’t surprise us. Peter reminds us that’s the way it was with Jesus. He suffered for doing no wrong, and he suffered it silently. He didn’t demand his rights or organize a protest. He took it, and he took it all…for us.

So, when you do what is right according to what your God says, and the world maligns you and opposes you; when you forfeit some advantage, lose a perk, take a loss, get stepped on and walked all over, it’s OK. OK?!? That’s backwards! Exactly!

Because whatever was taken from you, whatever you lost, whatever you gave up, wouldn’t have remained yours anyway. One day it will all be gone from you. But you’ll still have the one thing—the only thing—that matters: your relationship with your Good Shepherd by faith in him.

But that’s backwards! The people of this world scream when their rights or blessings are taken from them. To suffer such treatment silently is backwards! Exactly! Christians are backwards—backwards in our living.

I’m confident that you know that Christians aren’t really backwards. Maybe to the people of this world they are. But that’s OK, because we’re not backwards to our Good Shepherd, who loves us, died for us, and made us who we are—the dear sheep of his fold, the sheep he feeds and protects. And, if being one of the sheep of the Good Shepherd and living like it in this world is backwards, so be it. Because Jesus came to give us life and to have it in fullness. That life is yours, as backwards as it seems to some. How blessed you are! Thank your Good Shepherd for it by living backwards every day of your life. Amen.