Grace By Association - 1 Peter 4:12-16 Series

1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice to the degree that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or evildoer or as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God as those named by that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" 19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Introduction: Grace by Association

I'm afraid I have some sad news for you today. A member of our staff has been arrested. The charges have to do with theft - stealing items from unattended vehicles. I won't tell you his name, but his initials stand for Jeff Grow. The elders would look into this, but the details are a little fuzzy because it happened 50 years ago. Jeff was a teenager and was hanging out with a group of friends, and they were suddenly surrounded by police. It turns out those friends had been stealing wheels off cars, and when the police caught up to them, Jeff happened to be with them. Jeff was never involved with their crimes, but he was with the group when the police caught them, and the evidence was with them. So the police arrested all of them and roughed Jeff up quite a bit (this was in Chicago in 1963), then took him to jail.

We call that guilt by association. Just because you are associated with some wrongdoers, you are punished for wrongdoing even though you are innocent. Any judge that would convict someone on the basis of guilt by association would be an unjust judge, because actual guilt cannot be transferred by mere association with criminals. But what about the converse of guilt by association - grace by association (being rewarded when you don't deserve it just because you are associated with someone who deserves reward)? Has that ever happened? Yes, it has, in fact, grace by association is basically a three-word summary of the gospel. If you want to know the most fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion, you can find it in that little phrase - grace by association. Human religion is based on being rewarded for your own goodness. Christianity is unique in that all our rewards come to us not because we have made ourselves good enough to deserve them, but because of our close association with Someone who does deserve them - the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the gospel.

The Greek word for association is just a two-letter word - en. It is usually translated by the English word in. So if they want to talk about being closely associated with or connected to or affiliated with or identified with someone, they would simply say you are in that person. And that is why about 100 times in the New Testament you see the phrase "in Christ." Our religion is all about being closely associated with, affiliated with, connected to, identified with, Jesus Christ. The greatest blessing possible is to be connected to Christ, and the greatest calamity is distance from Christ. The best situation you can be in is to be handcuffed to Christ, so that the things that happen to Him also happen to you. On Judgment Day you will go to heaven if you are in Christ. If you are not, you will go to hell. Every reward or blessing you ever receive in this life or the next will only be because of your being connected to Jesus Christ, because all the favor He receives from the Father also lands on whoever is standing next to Him. Grace by association.

Imagine you are in high school and you have a buddy with a rich father who loves to lavish gifts on his son. And whatever he gives his son, he will also give to whoever happens to be hanging out with his son. So you are having lunch with him one day, and here comes his father, "Son, I got you a 2013 Dodge Viper. Oh, and here's one for your friend, too." Every time you are with him and his dad gives him something it is always, "Here's one for your friend, too," - just because the father appreciates you befriending his son. God the Father loves His Son so much, that the best thing that can possibly happen to you is to be associated with His Son, because the closer you are to His Son the more all that favor lands on you.