Resilience

 
Resilience 1 Peter 1 By Pastor Dan Kennedy © April 28, 2013 www.pastorkennedy.com I recently met a specialist who was working on enhancing basic training for military recruits. I asked him what were the most desirable qualities to be built into military personnel. He gave me two answers: Resilience, and Teamwork. I could understand the military’s need for teamwork – any organization, any church, any successful sport franchise, any loving family, any successful group of people must have unity in their obvious diversity (which we may sometimes call teamwork) in order to succeed. This originates from the very nature of God Himself in the mysterious unity and diversity of the Godhead Trinity. But why the primary need of “resilience”? The lack of resilience for the soldier leads to a host of difficulties including the growing problem of a severe anxiety disorder labeled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and an increasing number of suicides among the troops. One article suggested that nearly 30% of the 834,000 post 9/11 troops have been diagnosed with PTSD. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/21/nearly-30-of-vets-treated-by-v-a-have-ptsd.html Another article reports that the number of suicides in the military are growing each year rather than subsiding. http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicides In some years, suicide takes more military lives than combat. http://www.good.is/posts/more-us-soldiers-killed-themselves-than-died-in-combat-in-2010/ There is a growing need, an article states, for “resilience”. http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicides 1. The Need of Physical Resilience (the Body): • In the military there is an increasing strain on the body from intense physical training. • Stress fractures need to be prevented; better nutrition is being tested. • Resilience is needed to rebound from physical wounds associated with military action. • The physical extremities incurred in the military because of lack of sleep, extended times of lack of nourishment, extreme physical demands in conditions either resembling war, or in actual combat, increase the need for physical and emotional resilience. 2. The Need of Emotional Resilience (the Soul - mind, emotions and will): • Dealing with the actualities and aftereffects of trauma, war, death and emotional and physical wounds can cause severe personal stress and threaten resilience. • Emotional resilience seems to be based on acquisition of what we deem that we need, or on the hope that we will, in fact, one day receive them. When we do not receive these things, or lose hope that we will receive these things, we have less and less resilience. • Justice, respect, security, gifts & ability, morality, and honor, etc., are all qualities that give us strength in resilience. If we lose these internal intangible qualities, we deteriorate in resilience. Our hope in life becomes minimal, we lose purpose and meaning, and we feel our life is worthless. • This is also very true of those not in the military, dealing with the trauma of events as we have recently seen in the Boston Bombing. It can be related to other accidents, abuse, marriage problems, interpersonal relationships and any other emotional stress, which may be experienced by a traumatized human being. I asked the middle-aged military specialist how he dealt with his own personal stress to increased his resilience – he said he took anti-anxiety medication. 3. The need of Spiritual Resilience (the Spirit): • Spiritual Resilience is based on Faith and our Hope in God. We rely on God’s Holy Spirit to affirm the Truth of God’s Word, so spiritual resilience is established on the intangibleness of “Faith in God”, because “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. • Spiritual Resilience is based on relationship with God, which gives Living Hope! Tripartite People We are “tripartite” human beings: we have a 1. Body, 2. Soul, and 3. Spirit. When heinous problems that face human beings affect each of us from time to time, we cannot deal with the stresses around us unless we also incorporate a third necessary element in our growing and necessary need for personal resilience: …a deep and stable spiritual relationship with God. This intangible health of the spirit is critical in keeping physical and emotional resilience. How do we find resilience for our body, soul and spirit? What gives us the most resilience when faced with the huge variables and swings in Life? First, let’s establish a bottom line about we as humans: We are Mortal. No matter how beautiful, successful or talented we may be, we will all die one day. Comprehending the Reality of the Temporary State of our Human Existence Since we are going to look at 1st Peter today, we should look at the end of chapter 1 before we turn our attention to the beginning of the chapter. 1 Peter 1:24-25 “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. If we are terminal and mortal as individuals in this human race we have a definite and very serious problem: Nothing we can do can assure ourselves of lasting hope, security and life. All the resilience we can muster in this life, physically and emotionally, without God, is to no avail! If we truly realize that we are mortal – that we will not last forever… and that we will certainly face our Creator and be accountable to Him, this one reality should readjust our thinking about how we sustain resilience in our mortal and potentially hazardous daily lives. This is why our spiritual Hope in God is so essential. Let’s turn to 1st Peter. Spiritual Resilience found in 1 Peter chapter 1 Who is the book of 1 Peter written to? 1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood (“to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood”NASB): Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Who is the book of 1st Peter written to? It was written to Believers in Christ who were physically persecuted, fleeing for their lives and scattered throughout the outlying cities as strangers in the places to which they fled…but they were God’s Chosen People! Their resilience was not based on where they were, or on their own lives – it was only based on the HOPE found in whose they were – they were God’s Elect. Living Hope – Foundational Resilience 1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. • Living Hope through Great Mercy • Living Hope through New Birth – the sprinkling of Jesus’ Blood in reconciliation with God, and the transformation of new life by the power of the Holy Spirit • Living Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead • Living Hope into an Inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for those who believe in Jesus Christ • Living Hope to those who through faith are Shielded by God’s Power • Living Hope until the Coming of the Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time Living Hope in Times of Trials – The Testing of Resilience 1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Living Hope, seen in advance by the Prophets, revealed the Messiah for those who would come after them…not for themselves 1 Peter 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. Living Hope Establishes itself on a Transformed Lifestyle – from Evil Desires to Obedience to Christ 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Living Hope brings Impartial Justice Established not on Perishable things, but on the Imperishable Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Living Hope Loves Deeply 1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. Living Hope that is founded on the Stability of God’s Word, not on any benefit obtained in this Temporary Fleeting Human Existence 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. Those scattered exiles and strangers, believers in Jesus Christ – His Elect, to whom Peter was writing, were offered living hope which gave them resilience to continue in their faith and service to God. Many had lost family, friends, possessions, security, respect, and a host of other tangible personal things. They had suffered severe persecution and even the loss of life itself. The one thing that kept them going was hope – spiritual hope, eternal hope. This was the hope that Peter himself was offering to them. The same Peter, whom tradition tells us lost everything on earth as well…his own life also as he was hung upside down on a cross, in a conclusion of his earthly life but a beginning of a far greater eternal life, for Peter is not dead. He is living in the Presence of God. Remember what Jesus said to the Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection of the Dead? Matthew 22 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” The Apostle Peter has accurately declared to all mortals, through his book, inspired by the Spirit of God, a Living Hope through Jesus Christ; a Living Hope that will give to those who believe in Christ the resilience needed for our body, soul and spirit to faithfully and patiently endure the trials of life and give us the hope of our eternal inheritance. Conclusion The Resilience of Living Hope for our Body, Soul and Spirit • Living Hope through Great Mercy • Living Hope through New Birth – the sprinkling of Jesus’ Blood in reconciliation with God, and the transformation of new life by the power of the Holy Spirit • Living Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead • Living Hope through into an Inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for those who believe in Jesus Christ • Living Hope to those who through faith are Shielded by God’s Power • Living Hope until the Coming of the Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time • Living Hope in Times of Trials • Living Hope, revealed in advance, by the Prophets • Living Hope Established through the Imperishable Blood of Jesus Christ • Living Hope that Loves Deeply • Living Hope that is Founded on the Stability of God’s Word, not on any benefit obtained in this Temporary Fleeting Human Existence Resilience for mortal humans is based on the Living Hope of our relationship with God! “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24-25 http://www.pastorkennedy.comhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/21/nearly-30-of-vets-treated-by-v-a-have-ptsd.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/21/nearly-30-of-vets-treated-by-v-a-have-ptsd.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicideshttp://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicideshttp://www.good.is/posts/more-us-soldiers-killed-themselves-than-died-in-combat-in-2010/http://www.good.is/posts/more-us-soldiers-killed-themselves-than-died-in-combat-in-2010/http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicideshttp://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/military-suicidesshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6shapeimage_1_link_7shapeimage_1_link_8