In 1978 singer-songwriter Billy Joel released a hit song about his failed attempts at courting a girl back in his high school days. The girl’s name was Virginia Callahan, and she was a devout Catholic. The single, with its catchy tune and playful lyrics would eventually become a hit, but not without substantial pushback from the Catholic church who deemed it disrespectful to the Church and its traditional values. Radio stations around the country, at the urging of the Catholic church, banned the album from the airways. But their attempt to block the song was in vain. In spite of being banned from radio, the song skyrocketed in popularity as Joel performed it live in concerts and on Saturday Night Live.
Billy Joel remembers it this way: “All these archdiocese areas started putting pressure on radio stations to ban it. The single had been out a short amount of time and wasn’t doing well. The minute they banned it, it starting shooting up the charts, because nothing sells a record like a ban or a boycott. This record would have died out. Nobody would’ve heard it if they hadn’t tried to cut people off from it. As soon as the kids found out there was some authority that didn’t want them to hear it, they bought it in droves and it became this big hit.”
The song did so well that Joel actually wrote letters to the arch-bishops and radio DJ’s, begging them ban his next record! The familiar lyrics of “Only the Good Die Young,” go like this:
(Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel)
They say there's a heaven for those who will wait
Some say it's better but I say it ain't
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
Sinners are much more fun
And only the good die young
People assumed Billy Joel was anti-Catholic, but in his own words, “The point of the song wasn’t so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust.” The underlying message: Sinful behavior is of greater benefit than good behavior. The idea of loving sin, loving what’s evil, is prevalent in our world today. To be sure, attraction to evil has always been a part of what makes up the human condition. We’re “prone to wander” like the old hymn says. It may seem like evil has only crawled from its dark hole in recent decades, but this of course isn’t true. To quote one of Billy Joel’s other famous songs, “We didn’t start the fire.” Evil has been lurking around the corner, creeping into homes and families and nations, seeping into the hearts and minds of all of us who are vulnerable to the allure of sin—and it is all of us.
• Many succumb to the powers of evil. Unaware or unwilling to receive the only hope freely offered to them.
• Some willingly embrace evil for its immediate gratification and run to grab hold of its fool’s gold promise, in defiance of the alternative.
• Others strive to resist evil and cling to the Gospel. And rest assured, there has never been and never will be a movement or institution of the world that will elude evil or slow its spread. No prescription drug or device of science that can abate the effects of evil. No government impervious to the corruption of evil. Only one force in all of creation has the power to stand against evil, and that’s the supernatural power of the Creator, to re-create his creation, to reverse death to life; and it’s in the shape of a cross.
Jesus extends his invitation to us is to walk in the way of the cross, to enter his Kingdom. To Stand Firm… When the Days Are Evil, as today’s sermon title suggests.
In our text, Peter quotes another famous songwriter, King David, and his 34th Psalm. Brad read Psalm 34 earlier, but here’s the section that Peter quotes in his letter.
Psalm 34 (NCV)
"You must do these things to enjoy life and have many happy days. You must not say evil things, and you must not tell lies. Stop doing evil and do good. Look for peace and work for it. The Lord sees the good people and listens to their prayers. But the Lord is against those who do evil; he makes the world forget them."
1. Those who do good enjoy life and have many happy days; ample evidence to argue that living good—taking care of your body, caring for those around you, healthy personal habits and social interactions, making wise decisions—enables you and your family to thrive and flourish, even increasing life expectancy.
2. Look for peace–have you find it yet on FB or Twitter or Instagram? Or just more unrest?
3. The good are seen by the Lord and he hears their prayers. He sees you and me.
4. Those who do evil are set against the Lord; he makes the world forget them. Like they were never even there. Again, ample evidence to argue that the sinful lifestyle is detrimental to thriving and flourishing: high financial cost, loss of relationships, failed marriages, depression, thoughts of suicide, addiction, job insecurity or stalled career opportunities, increased chance of communicable disease or other health issues, trouble with the law, and statistically shorter life expectancy.
In the Kingdom, good is juxtaposed to evil. And it is better to do good, than to do evil.
This past August I was sitting at the railroad tracks down here on Woodside road waiting on the train to pass. A young man, completely oblivious to the line of cars stacked up, or the big red flashing lights, or the blaring train horn or roar of the tracks, just plowed into my rear end and pushed me forward a couple car lengths. Fortunately, I was able to turn my wheel to avoid serious damage to the vehicle in front of me.
But that impact jarred the entire left side of my body. My left foot was jammed up under the dash, compressing my ankle, knee, hip, and ribs; and my left shoulder was over-extended as I turned the wheel to the right at the moment of impact. After exams, x-rays and MRI, I am mostly shocked to find the degree to which my muscles have been affected. At my first visit with the physical therapist, he did some orthopedic tests to compare my shoulders… He had me hold out my right arm while he pushed down and I resisted. I thought, “Wow, I am so strong!” Then he repeated the same thing on my left side, and my left arm collapsed like a noodle. Test after test went like this… My left shoulder muscles were so weak… and the same thing with my left hamstring and hip flexors. I couldn’t believe it.
Weeks of chiropractic and PT, I seem to have regained much of my strength on my left side. I still have daily exercises to do. The other day I shared with the physical therapist that, as amazed as I was at the weakness of left shoulder and knee in that initial exam, I’m even more amazed at how my strength has returned. And he pointed out the obvious: that’s how exercise works! You gain strength in muscle tissue by exercising it. By regularly repeating the exercises he had given to me to strengthen those muscles.
Any doctors here today or online may take issue with my overly simplistic depiction of how physical exercise works; I don’t know. But I can tell you that’s exactly how you strengthen your spiritual muscles: practice. You exercise what you want to do better.
Peter’s purpose here in his 3rd chapter is to provide spiritual exercise for the Christians to Stand Firm in the midst of the evil in their day, and it’s for us as well. This is very practical. It’s hands on. It’s not just about thinking good thoughts, no more than I could think my shoulder back into health. So the question is: How do we Stand Firm in this post-election, litigious, cynical, covid-infested, social media, mob, looting & rioting, bigoted, self-serving, baby-killing, sexually confused—in short, evil—world that we live in? It’s as practical as any other advice we could get.
1. We Stand Firm by Doing Good.
Here are some ways we do good:
1 Peter 3:8-9, (CSB). "All of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing."
Be Harmonious
• Romans 12:16 (CSB)—"Live in harmony with one another."
Be Sympathetic
• Romans 12:15 (CSB)— "Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep."
• Participating in the hurting of another person. It’s empathy, but accompanied by action.
Be Brotherly-Loving
• Ephesians 4:32 (CSB)—"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ."
• Can you think of anyone who has sinned? Besides yourself, I mean! Close your eyes for a moment. Who do you see? A politician? A media personality? A former employer? A family member? Ask yourself, did Christ forgive them? Can you fathom that maybe it’s your face that someone else is picturing right now? Christ forgives you. When you think about it, Christ has done the heavy lifting here. If he can forgive, so can you. Now look at that picture in your mind’s eye again. Can you see that person differently now? What does it mean to love the person you just forgave?
Be Humble—humiliate yourself; not about embarrassing, but submission
Be Blessing—not cursing or seeking revenge; we have been blessed in order to be blessing
So we Stand Firm by doing good. We also Stand Firm by enduring suffering.
If you recall from Psalm 34, He introduces the idea of being harmed or persecuted for doing good. He tells us, in addition to Doing Good, we Stand Firm by Enduring Suffering. We likely will suffer when we align ourselves with goodness and the Kingdom that Jesus invites us into. Doing good won’t always be welcomed or celebrated, and in fact, can often be met with resistance and persecution in various forms. The result is suffering for those who do good.
2. We Stand Firm by Enduring Suffering.
To be able to endure suffering, we need to have a perspective on suffering, not just as suffering, but as a blessing, hope, and witness.
Suffering as blessing
• 1 Peter 3:13-14a (CSB)—"Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed."
• Reflect back on Psalm 34 that Peter quotes in 1 Peter3:10-12: God sees those who do good and hears our prayers. But even if we do experience suffering for doing good (and the assumption is we will; it’s inevitable), we are blessed because we have done good in God’s sight.
Suffering as hope
1 Peter 3:14b-15 (CSB)—"Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."
• We often think that the readiness to give a defense is cognitive or intellectual, as if proving something in a debate setting. And maybe sometimes that’s the case. But here, Peter is directly saying that our very acts of goodness themselves are a defense of the Gospel because our suffering points to the hope that we have in Christ, in who we know Christ to be. If it were not for Christ, we could not bear to suffer for Practicing Good.
Suffering as witness
• (vv. 16-17 CSB)—Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
• There is perhaps no greater testimony of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great love of God, than the gentle and holy cries and suffering of Christians. Don’t ask me to explain that; I can only tell you that it has born itself out in the life of Christ himself, the martyrs of the Apostles, the early Church Fathers, the early Christians who died at the hands of the Roman emperors, and the countless—seriously countless!—Christians martyred from Japan to South America throughout the centuries, and even today in places like the Middle East. The Church thrives when Christians suffer. It’s been rightly stated, that “The seeds of faith have been watered by the blood of martyrs.”
As it turns out, Billy Joel, it is better to cry with the saints than to laugh with the sinners.
How do we Stand Firm? By Doing Good and Enduring Suffering.
I wonder if, perhaps, Peter didn’t reflect upon his experiences of traveling with Jesus for those three years together when he was composing this letter. Here he is, writing these scattered Christians, so many years after his time spent with Jesus, encouraging them to Stand Firm in Doing Good and Enduring Suffering… I can imagine him recalling one incident in particular, found in Mark 10. Keep in mind, Mark is Peter’s Gospel; as the author, Mark is transcribing Peter’s eye witness account of Jesus’ life and ministry. In Mark 10 we find Jesus along with his disciples, having just traveled through Galilee, then Capernaum, across the Jordan River, and now teaching in Judea.
Mark 10:17-31 (MSG)
"As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.” He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!” Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.” The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go. Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.” That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked. Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.” Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Gospel will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”
The rich young ruler who walked away is a sad example for us of someone who rejected the invitation of Jesus. Jesus invited him to follow but he wasn’t willing to accept the hardship that comes with it. What he failed to see was that following Jesus was more about Jesus than it was about his mistakes or accomplishments; and that’s true for you and me as well. But if you miss that, then you miss grace, which overshadows those mistakes and hardships and suffering. And that’s the Kingdom Jesus invites us into.
As we prepare to celebrate the Table, we recognize that it’s all about what Christ has done—the good he did that we could not do, and suffering he likewise endured—he certainly Stood Firm in the midst of evil, and crushed it!—and all that Christ is doing in the world through his cosmic re-creation program—his Kingdom. There’s a song that conveys this, and I think it echoes Jesus’ invitation to us:
(Broken Things by Matthew West)
Grace is a kingdom
And I stood at the gate
Thinking I don’t deserve to pass through
After all the mistakes that I’ve made
Oh but I heard a whisper
As heaven bent down
Say child don’t you know
That the first will be last and the last wear a crown
Now I’m just a beggar in the presence of a king
I wish I could bring so much more
But if it’s true that you use broken things
Then here I am Lord I’m all yours
Whoa oh…
The pages of history
They tell me it’s true
That it’s never the perfect
It’s always the ones with the scars that you use
It’s the rebels and the prodigals
It’s the humble and the weak
All those misfit heroes you chose
Tell me there’s hope for sinners like me
Now I’m just a beggar in the presence of a king
I wish I could bring so much more
But if it’s true that you use broken things
Then here I am Lord I’m all yours
Whoa oh…
Whoa oh…
Grace is a kingdom
With its gates open wide
There’s a seat at the table just waiting for you
So come on inside