Don’t be shocked by suffering, be sensible – 1 Peter 4
Thesis: We as Christians need to live for God and understand that when we live holy lives in a fallen world we will suffer for our stances but we need to stay sensible through the trials and be committed to the cause of Jesus Christ.
Introduction:
I Peter was written by Simon Peter one of Jesus’ disciples. He wrote this book to encourage believers who were being persecuted by secular society- The Roman Empire and the Jewish nation. We know from church history that Peter was crucified for his stance on the message of Christianity. The Romans had him crucified upside down at Peter’s request. He is said to have stated, “He felt unworthy to die in the same manner as His Lord.”
In my first sermon based on 1 Peter 1 we discovered that peter challenges us about our present mindset – our current thought processes should be changed since we have received grace from Jesus and experienced Him personally in our lives. The truth is we should have been touched dramatically by our salvation experience that we want to drive out our old evil way of thinking and acting and replace it with right thinking and actions.
In my second sermon from 1 Peter 2 we were challenged as Christians to seek to romance the precious stone Jesus like we seek to romance the lovers in our lives. In our text today we are looking at the importance of each of us Christians making the decision to romance the Stone. We know that Peter refers to the Stone as Jesus Christ. He is a precious stone a living hope the one who is the cornerstone of all relationships.
What we are talking about when we say that we must romance the stone is that we must have Spiritual Intimacy with Jesus the lover of our souls.
In my third sermon from 1 Peter we were charged to make sure we do right things then we will be right but if we chose to do wrong things then we will be wrong in the sight of God. We were told by Peter in chapter 3 that we must be willing to suffer for doing good. We need to be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, and also be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing if you bless those who persecute you for doing good. 1 Peter 3:13, 14 stated;
“13Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
I want to pick up this thought from chapter 3 of 1 Peter and move us into Chapter 4 of 1 Peter and see how important it is to approach this life with the right attitude and mindset about doing good and suffering for it.
Scripture Text: 1 Peter 4:1-19 (Play on the CD)
1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
T.S. - As I listened to our text today there were three things that stood out to me about living for the Lord and facing the suffering that will come with right living.
1. We are instructed by Scripture to live for God.
a. We are to live for God by having the same attitude as Jesus did when it came to doing good and being punished for it by the world system.
i. Phil. 2:5-11:
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
ii. Show DVD The Passion Of The Christ – The scene where we see the attitude of Jesus Christ in the Garden.
1. It’s an attitude of self-denial
a. The willingness to say “Yes God!” I will do good even if they persecute me for it.
2. It’s a servants attitude
a. A servant seeks to please His Lord and does not allow others to distract Him from doing what is right for His Master!
3. It’s a no revenge attitude!
a. It’s an attitude of giving mercy even when they make you suffer for doing good.
iii. Let me ask, “Is your attitude like Jesus? Or is you attitude about living this life for yourself!” – allowing your selfish desires to control you?
1. Charles Swindoll said: "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string that we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes."
b. We are to live for God by having a clear mind in this world filled with pain and suffering.
i. Clear mindedness only comes from having it renewed with the Word of God.
1. Romans 12: 1, 2: 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
ii. We get a clear mind by renewing it with Scripture – there is no other way to get a clear mind! With out the clearing power of the Word we will only be more confused and fuzzy in our thinking. Especially when we have to suffer for doing good.
1. 2 Timothy 3:16: 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2. The Bible is designed to do the above in our lives.
a. To teach us truth
b. To rebuke us when we are wrong so that we repent
c. To correct us and show us how to do it right
d. To train us to be righteous and to hold onto to our gift of holiness from Jesus.
iii. John Wycliff –“…to be ignorant of the Scriptures is to be ignorant of Christ.”
1. He also stated: “All those who love Christ, whether priest, knight or laborer, must carefully study the gospel in that tongue in which the meaning of the gospel was clearest to them; for all the faithful were bound to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more closely they followed Him, the more and the better did they love Him; and; since the deeds and teaching of Christ were more clearly expressed in the gospel than elsewhere, it was obvious how much the careful study of this book profited the faithful.”
2. Wycliffe believed that the Bible in a written form that the average person could read and understand was the greatest tool for the Christian. This resource was the key in getting the people of his day to live right.
a. People can only change when they allow the word to impact their lives. For it to impact their lives they needed to know what it said about living.
3. Wycliffe raised up his troop of preachers and sent them out into the country side on the premise that right thinking leads to right living. Therefore his preachers were to teach the people the truth and put the Bible into their hands so that they could learn to renew their minds with the Word of God and this in turn would cause them to live for God. The key was encouraging the people to read and study the Bible for themselves and to hear and learn from Preachers who preached the Word.
4. John Wycliffe’s rules for Studying The Bible:
a. Obtain a reliable text
b. Understand the logic of Scripture
c. Compare the parts of Scripture with one another
d. Maintain an attitude of humble seeking
e. Receive instruction of the Spirit
5. Wycliffe’s push to get the word of God into the hands of the common people.
a. After challenging the church’s false teaching on the following issues he was removed from Oxford as a teacher and stripped of his honors from the church.
i. The doctrine of indulgences – You pay the church money and no matter what you do or how you live you are saved.
ii. Transubstantiation – That at Communion the Bread and Wine actually turn into the literal Body and Blood of Christ. One of the results was the church quit giving laity the cup because the laity may spill it and dishonor the church.
iii. Papal authority – Teaching stated that the Pope was superior to all human authority and he alone spoke to God.
1. Wycliffe condemned this teaching saying we own our allegiance to God and God alone not a man.
b. Right after he is removed and he receives a vision from the Lord to translate the Scriptures into English so that all the people can read them and be ministered to by the Word and by the Holy Spirit.
i. It’s amazing how a clear mind helps us see and meet with God in our prayer lives.
c. We are to live for God by being self-controlled especially when we suffer for doing good.
i. We can only gain self control if we learn to deny the flesh and submit to Jesus Christ and His Word.
1. Self control is control over ones self!
a. The reality is self never wants to suffer it only wants to be selfishly fulfilled in it wants and desires.
2. The following illustration is by J. R. Miller and it deals with the subject of surrendering one’s self to Christ: "An architect complains that many of his clients come and ask him to design a house for them, only for him to discover that they have already designed it for themselves. What they really want is his sanction of their own plan, and the satisfaction of seeing him draw on paper what they have exactly in mind. It is in very much the same fashion that we often go to the Great Architect with our lives. We ask Him for wisdom and guidance, but we have already planned how we will build our fortunes and shape our course; and it is not His way we are seeking, but His approval of our way."
ii. Self Control is the key in living right and holy for the Lord.
1. Because self never wants any one else in control of its life.
2. Self will always battle against you for doing what’s right in life. Especially when you suffer for it!
iii. Self Control is spoken about by Peter:
1. He tells us it looks like this:
a. We have brotherly love for one another
i. Self Control says “I love you in spite of your flaws!”
b. We offer hospitality to others without grumbling.
i. Self Control allows us to have the mind or serving without the negative thoughts towards others for serving them.
c. We have a servant attitude
i. Self Control says ‘Yes I will serve you for the cause of Jesus Christ!”
2. He also tells us what a life looks like with no self control:
a. They live in debauchery
i. It means they live to indulge one’s appetites one’s sensual pleasures. Life is all about indulging the flesh.
b. They lust for others.
i. Only so there desire is satisfied.
c. They are consumed with drunkenness.
i. Life is all about parties.
d. They participate in orgies.
i. To fulfill their lust infested hearts.
e. They are out carousing.
i. Carousing means a person is out seeking to satisfy their appetite for merriment.
f. They are into detestable idolatry.
i. The worship the idols of pleasure, of parties, of sex.
d. We are to live for God by using the gifts that God gave us.
i. We are to use our gifts for the spread of His Kingdom.
ii. We are to use our gifts to do good things for others and for God.
iii. Wycliffe used the gifts God gave him to serve the Kingdom.
1. He did it with humility and passion. Why? So that peoples lives could be changed.
2. But remember he did suffer great persecution and he suffered much loss in his life for serving Jesus.
3. Actually if you study the lives of Jesus Disciples they all suffered greatly for the Kingdom of God.
T.S. – We need to make sure that we live for the Lord with our lives and that we do not allow our attitude to be worldly or corrupted. We then need to realize that when we do this the world will make us pay for not being like them.
2. When we really start living for God with our lives we will suffer persecution from this world.
a. Don’t be shocked by the suffering which will come your way for living Holy and for doing right things
i. The world does not like those who do not conform to their ways.
ii. You make them uncomfortable and they do not like it.
b. Instead be sensible about it and rejoice that the world does not like you because of Jesus.
i. We need to be sensible about our suffering for doing good. We need to know that it will happen because they hated Jesus and they will hate you for the same reasons.
ii. Remember the darkness does not like light! But the light promise to bless us if we chose to do right and be willing to pay the price for doing it.
1. Romans 8: 16-18: “16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
2. Realize the fact blessings come to those who are insulted because of there life centered on the Bible’s Teaching.
c. When you suffer don’t be ashamed but be proud and praise God that you are able to bear His name under pressure.
i. Phil. 3:10: 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
ii. Paul was proud that he suffered for the sake of Jesus and he often wrote about to encourage the body of Christ.
iii. Today many Christians are making a stand to Do Right by verbally talking to people about what is right and wrong with our society.
1. They are talking about the upcoming election and they are using the Bible to decide who they should vote for. I encourage each of you to do the same. Focus on the Family has talked a lot recently about Christian Citizenship.
a. They tell us how we need to make a stand about Biblical Values and they warn us that we will be persecuted for our comments and our stances of right is right and wrong.
b. Here is what each of us should do for the up and coming election:
i. Pray
ii. Register to Vote
iii. Study the candidates ask God for wisdom and guidance.
1. See who is more aligned with Scripture!
2. Check out www.citizenlink.org
3. Check out www.Christianvotes.com
4. Check out www.Operation:vote.com
iv. Talk about the issues with family and friends.
v. Study the Bible to find out what it has to say about the issues.
1. Gay Marriage
2. Abortion
3. Faith in politics
4. Separation of Church and State
5. Morals in society
6. War
7. Prayer in schools
vi. Get involved by conducting voter registration drives, distributing voter guides, serving on a campaign.
vii. VOTE!
viii. Keep elected officials accountable through phone calls, e-mails and letters by communicating your concerns or approval.
T.S. – We need to understand that when we live right the world will not like it and they will make us suffer for choosing this pathway in life. But we must commit any way.
3. But we still need to commit ourselves to the faithful Creator and keep doing the good work which will change this world.
a. The church must realize that judgment for right living starts with the House of God. If the church fails to commit to doing right then why will the world commit to doing right?
b. We must not give up right living even if the majority of the world does so.
i. Therefore we need to commit to Jesus!
1. Commitment. It is a word that we seem to be hearing a lot about lately. One automobile manufacturer says that they are "committed to excellence." Professional athletes, business persons, executives, etc., are all committed to their occupations.
a. We hear of CEO’s telling them that their employees need to commit to their cause!
2. Stories from Preachers: Recently, I read a story of commitment that touched my heart and made me think of commitment in marriage. Most married people have affirmed a commitment to their spouse that goes something like this: ". . . To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part. . . ." Robertson McQuilkan’s commitment in marriage was severely challenged when his wife, Muriel, contracted Alzheimers disease. Mr. McQuilkan was president of a Bible college and seminary when he was faced with a mountainous decision. He could not continue as president and take appropriate care of his wife who at this point could only speak in phrases and words and was prone to irrational behavior. She was afraid when she was not with her husband. Even his most trusted and godly friends advised him to put his wife in an institution for the sake of his ministry. After all, how could he retire when things were going so well and he was only 57 years old? When the time came, McQuilkan’s decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. He commented, "Had I not promised, 42 years before ’in sickness and in health . . . till death do us part’?" Later he would go on to write of the joys and blessings he had received as a result of the special time spent with Muriel. Commitment is a foundation for successful Christian living.
3. The Lord is going to stand behind His promises--He is committed to what He has said and done. For the Christian there can be nothing less. Commitment is an absolute necessity. A photographer tells of a young man who wanted duplicate copies of his girlfriend’s picture. The photographer noticed the following inscription on the back of the portrait, "My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity." Signed, Dianne. "P.S. If we ever break up, I want this picture back." We who have been saved have professed our love for Christ and for others. We belong to Christ. There can be no P.S. in our life given to God. We can never break up with Him. We are His. We belong to Him--forever.
ii. Communion is the time to reiterate our commitment to Jesus and God’s ways.
iii. Read I Corinthians 11:23-32 and play CD.
