The Sifting

I have always been fascinated by the exchange between Peter and Jesus that happened in the upper room after the Last Supper. In the midst of Jesus teaching his disciples about his impending death; infusing the Passover with new meaning; and radically reinterpreting greatness for them; he pulls back the curtain so Peter can see the battle that was raging with the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. In Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:11, Jesus was revealing the “schemes of the devil” against which Peter and the disciples were to stand.

The exchange is found in Luke 22:31-33. "'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death.'"

There are a couple of things that we need to understand that will bring this passage to life.

First, the “you” of Satan’s demand is plural and therefore is applied to all the disciples who would turn their back on Jesus during the battle of the cross. I think Jesus addresses Peter specifically for three reasons:

1. He is the leader.
2. While they were all subject to the sifting, Peter would reject Jesus most publicly.
3. He was the most confident that he wouldn’t fall: “Lord with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death."

Second, there is more than meets the eye in the phrase “demanded permission.” Most translations interpret the Greek word "exaiteo" as ‘asked.’ The KJV renders Jesus revelation, “Satan desires to have you.” But I quoted the NASB because its interpretation gets at the heart of what's really being said.

When you read that “Satan has demanded permission,” the feeling is that Satan is operating with a sense of entitlement. A demand is generally based upon the perception of a legitimate claim and Satan certainly believes he has claim on us.

The word Jesus used, exaiteo, is a word that literally means to claim back for oneself. Satan knows that because of sin human beings are his. He is the Lord of the darkness into which we are born, and therefore we come into the world as children of darkness.

However, when we by faith are enlightened by the light of the world, we are transferred from darkness to light and become children of God by the will of God (John 1:4-12). This is a great loss for Satan and while he can’t take us back, he does work diligently to keep us mired in darkness. This is the sifting to which Jesus referred.

There are times that we endure sifting and while the battle is a spiritual one that transcends flesh and blood, it is waged in the flesh and we are sifted through the desires of our flesh.

Peter would be sifted by his fleshly desire for self-preservation. When he felt threatened physically by his relationship with Christ, he denied his spiritual reality. So Satan sifted him through the flesh because that is where Peter was most susceptible and where Satan could stake his claim most compellingly.

We are vulnerable in the flesh because we have been living in the flesh longer than we have been living in the Spirit. Our yearnings (our physical, psychological, and emotional cravings) find expression in the very flesh that Satan once controlled. He knows our weaknesses and he lays claim on our lives by exploiting them.

James 1:14-15 says, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

We are tempted, or sifted, when Satan baits us into believing that our fleshly desires are our reality. When we fall victim to the lie, we are giving birth to the death of the abundant life we enjoy by faith.

But we don’t have to fall down or stay down. We have an advocate who has defeated our adversary. He has prayed for us in the same way that he prayed for Peter. His prayer is that by faith our spiritual reality would trump the deception of our flesh. When we fall, when we are mired in the darkness of the sifting, he asks us to repent and leverage our lessons for the good of others who are being sifted.

The sifting will come. But we have to remember that in our weakness we find his strength.

Choosing Confidence in Criticism

Criticism is one of those rare commodities that even the stingiest of people are generous with. While no one likes to receive criticism, it seems the woods are full of people who are more than willing to dish it out. We could ponder the psychological reasons for our propensity to criticize, but that is for another time and hopefully a smaller audience. Today I want to explore how those who are connected to Jesus should receive and respond to criticism.

From my perspective there are really five general responses to criticism.

1. Attack the messenger - Feeling attacked, we strike back at the person making the observation, slinging mud at every facet of their lives in an attempt to maintain superiority.
2. Discredit the messenger - This is an indirect attack that undermines the credibility of the criticizer. When engaged in discrediting, we tell anyone who will listen about the personal problems of the one who has leveled the criticism.
3. Withdraw and sulk - Over-responding to the shame of the criticism, we shut down any interaction with the person who attacked us believing that ostracizing our enemy is a just punishment for their crime.
4. Blowup and then process - Initially we get really angry and say things that we regret. Then as time goes by we reflect honestly on the issue.
5. Check our emotions and search for validity - No angry reactions. If appropriate we offer an apology for a perceived offense and express gratitude for their concern. Then, having protected the dignity of our critic, we look for the nuggets of truth that lie within almost every criticism.

Obviously for followers of Jesus the first three responses are totally unacceptable, the fourth is beginning to move in the right direction, but only the last option truly reflects our commitment to Christ. Not surprisingly, the last option is by far the most difficult response to muster -- but it is not impossible.

2 Samuel records the sad story of Absalom's insurrection, stealing the hearts of the people of Israel and then taking the throne from his father, David. In 2 Samuel 16:5-14, there is a play-by-play account of David's exodus from the Promised Land that features a unique critique.

There is a man from the tribe of Benjamin, the family of Saul, named Shimei. You remember that Saul was the king who preceded David, so presumably this man had a bit of an ax to grind. Having heard that David was on the run and coming his way, Shimei took it upon himself to let David know that he was getting exactly what he deserved. The scripture says he cursed David and, if that wasn't enough, he ran alongside the party pelting David, his officials, and his bodyguards with stones and saying, "Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!"

Needless to say, Shimei wasn't the sharpest Benjamite in the box. By pounding the king with pebbles he was taking his life in his own hands. As a matter of fact Abishai, one of David's fiercest warriors, requested permission to go lop Shimei's head off. But David would have none of it. Somehow he found the strength to respond to Shimei with his emotions in check and with an open mind to the validity of his statements. Reading the account of David's response reveals how David was able to choose the noble way in the face of some extremely debilitating and enraging criticism.

First, David knew that he had bigger fish to fry than Shimei. In verse 11 he reminds Abishai, "My son, who is my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite!" In other words, why would you expend any unnecessary energy on this person who cannot affect your future, when my own flesh and blood is out to kill me. Let's keep things in perspective here. We are getting what we expect from him, let it go!

Second, David chose to see criticism as a treasure map. David knew that the criticism was going to lead to treasure. The first possibility was that the Lord sent Shimei and there was a truth he had to face up to. In verse 11 he tells Abishai to leave him alone because it is quite possible the Lord instructed him to curse David. In verse 12 he mentions a more plausible possibility that the Lord will see his plight and "repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." Either way, David believed there was treasure coming if he endured the criticism.

Third David kept moving toward the goal. Verse 13 says, "So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt." What a scene: A grown man pitching an extended fit toward the king. But as entertaining as that would have been to witness, the remarkable part is that David kept on going. The tendency when hurt is to quit. We accept defeat and stop progress by hyper focusing on our wounds. But not David. He had somewhere to go and he stayed the course.

Fourth when he arrived, he acknowledged the pain and sought relief. Verse 14 says, "The king and all the people arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself." David didn't try to convince himself that Shimei was just a bad dream, he didn't try to pretend that it didn't affect him. He was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally and Shimei was a big part of that. So when he got where he was going, he gave himself some time to process. He spent time with God, acknowledging the devastation brought about by Absalom as well as Shimei and no doubt taking some time to find the treasure buried at the end of the hunt.

The Big Squeeze

I don't buy the notion that there are no dumb questions. I fully believe that people ask dumb questions. I have asked you dumb questions and I have been victimized by yours as well. It is part of getting to know people, it is a part of speech really. I say this because I am about to ask you a series of questions that could easily be interpreted, or misinterpreted, as dumb. Indulge me; I hope these questions prove purposeful.

• What do you get when you squeeze an orange?
• What do you get when you squeeze a bottle of ketchup?
• What do you get when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste?

Obviously we all know the answer to those questions. If there is any doubt in your mind I would suggest avoiding tryouts for Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? The expectation is that when squeezed, you would get out of each vessel what is actually inside. So, when you squeeze a container of ketchup you get ketchup, when pressure is applied to a tube of toothpaste you get toothpaste.

If we extrapolate this out into the absurd, we could even formulate principles that govern our expectations for the squeeze.

1. When squeezed something is going to come out.
2. What comes out is what is inside.
3. What is inside is what has been intentionally placed there.

Silly but true.

Now, with all of that in mind, let me ask you an important question: What do you get when you squeeze a Christian?

Following the principles of the squeeze, the answer should be Christ. When a Christian is squeezed by the pressures of life the result should be that a likeness of Christ comes out. Do you agree?

Believe it or not, Jesus had something to say about all of this. In his Sermon on the Mount he addressed this concept.

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Matthew 7:16-20 NLT

Jesus was pointing out was that there are a plethora of people who say they are good and godly; they run with the right people and go to the right churches and have all of the right answers. But all of that stuff doesn't matter because it's surface stuff and can be controlled. To really know what a person is like, you have to wait until they are wedged in the vice of life, when they experience the Big Squeeze. It is during the pressures of life that you can know who a person is and whose they are.

Let me ask a more important question: What do we get when life squeezes you?