Sermons Lone Rock Community Church Simple Things We’re going to address the 12th through the 19th verse, that is the 12th verse through the end of the chapter. Sometimes we need the Bible to call us back to first things, simple things. I think this is one of those times. I’m going to read the verses, you’ll see what I mean as I go through them and we’ll share a thought or two:
Don’t be surprised at the thing that might surprise you; "at the fiery ordeal among you." I remember years ago now, I’ll bet you 30, when I was a high school student, there was a government teacher who gave permission to his class to read something, do something, when finished with their work, until the bell rang, which they did. One young lady, who was a Christian – but at that time I couldn’t identify one very well – broke out her Bible and began to read. And when the teacher saw that, he was all over her like a new suit. "Put that away! What do you think you’re doing bringing a book like that into my classroom!" and on and on he went. I would imagine that most anything else might have been read in that classroom without any reprisal from the teacher, but the Bible was off limits. That was 30 years ago. You know what Peter’s talking about here primarily is reproach for the name of Jesus; that is, verbal attack, reviling. And you know we don’t like that sort of treatment. It doesn’t really matter who we are, where we are, nobody likes to be yelled at or chewed out, much less for doing what really is the right thing to do. It troubles us. It can provoke a natural response, can’t it? "Flight or fight"; you’ve heard that? We might want to lash out or withdraw or perhaps, depending on where we are spiritually, doubt God. Perhaps weaken our faith: "Boy, if I’m taking this sort of heat, where’s God?" The faith of reprisals that Peter (who is no stranger to this sort of treatment at all), is saying, "Look Christian person, when this happens, do what God’s people are called to do, that is, first of all, engage your head. Stop and consider the playing field upon which you’re living your life. Use your head. We’re going to be reproached from time to time as Christians." By the way, take a loving stand for Jesus and see what happens. Reproach will come and Peter is saying, when it does, do this. And what he offers us here in these verses, is simply some common sense, yet theologically and Biblically sound common sense, for what happens when we are opposed for our faith. Now that’s very clearly stated here – for our faith. And we’ll get into the details of that here in just a minute. Here’s some advice, and I’ve broken in down into six points of advice. The first thing that he says (and he uses the word twice) is, "Beloved, do not be surprised." Surprise! -- you’re being opposed for your faith -- as though something surprising were happening to you. Don’t be surprised! Peter is saying: "Christian people, whoa! Don’t be surprised if somebody, at some point, gets on your case for your stand for Jesus Christ. It shouldn’t come as a surprise at all and he tells us why. He gives us two reasons not to be surprised and I’ll share with you what they are. First of all, he says, opposition is the spiritual climate into which we are born. We are born into a spiritual climate that is antagonistic toward the gospel. You may not have yet experienced this, but if you make much of a stand for Jesus in company of those who do not know Him, you will. And if you don’t believe that, there are Christians today around the world who will testify that this is true. The gospel of Jesus has never been a popular one. We are born into this spiritual climate. Let me read a verse from John 15, beginning in verse 18. These are among Jesus’ last words to His disciples, He’s preparing to leave, He’s giving them some counsel and guess who is listening -- Peter, the author of our book that we’re studying.
To Jesus, who’s not from here, that’s a slam-dunk. That’s a no-brainer. "If you live for Me, they will treat you as they treated Me." Varying degrees, different times, different situations. But Jesus said to count on it, and Peter echoes –"Count on it." Opposition is the spiritual climate into which we are born. You know, it’s sort of like ‘born again’ in a certain way is parallel to being born physically. If we could go back and interview the newborn kid, child, baby, they leave 98.6, a world of softness and safety and security and silence and suddenly find themselves totally exposed to everyone, a quick change in temperature, being handled. No wonder they’re crying. They’re born into this world. It’s just the way it is. And that’s what Peter is saying as Jesus told him. It’s just the way it is, that’s into which we are born. The other reason we are not to be surprised is because, as Peter points out, he calls it a "fiery ordeal". It is designed "for our testing." What do you think? Do you really think we can be born again as Christians, we can go however many years into life, realize that we are guilty of sinning before a holy God, come under that conviction, become converted, be born again into the family of God and think: Oh – I’m ready for heaven, I’ve got all the answers, I’ve got everything figured out, my character is totally formed and molded, all the rough edges have been sanded? Oh, no – He says this "fiery ordeal" -- is "for your testing". It’s for the molding of your character. Some people say "Oh, it’s the devil, he’s after me and the devil just rides me like a horse and he won’t let go of me." I disagree. I don’t think any one of us is that important to merit the attention of the devil who is one being. However, if in fact the devil and/or his agents are on our case, realize that he is on God’s leash. OK – the devil will test us so that we fail. That’s called temptation. God will test us so that we succeed and have victory. Either way, when we go through the trial, or we go through the test, the Bible bears this out in many places; it is so that our character may be molded and we may come to think and to choose and then to behave in a way that is Christ-like. That’s kind of what it’s all about, designed for our testing. I’m going to read from Psalm 66, just as reinforcement and the fact that this is not a new idea. Psalm 66, beginning in verse 8. Hear this now by the psalmist:
You worked in us, You brought us through, You changed our lives and God, with all of this turmoil that we’ve experienced, we realize that You are in it and folks, we ought to be surprised if it doesn’t happen this way! I Peter 4:12 begins with an endearing term, and that is "Beloved." Now, we’re not real sure if this is "beloved" to Peter, and he’s saying, "You are my friends and I have a heart concern for you and therefore I want you to understand this". That has to be at least in part true, but realize even more than that, he’s talking now to those who are believers – they are beloved of God. They are His beloved. God is looking now. God is focusing now and Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5 and 6 (reassuring verses), where the apostle writes, says:
It is a mark of the love of God, isn’t it, that he would take the time, make the effort and orchestrate circumstances so that your soul and mine are worked and molded and shaped and honed to be more like that of Jesus. So don’t be surprised. Surprise is the last thing we ought to register as we ponder how God orchestrates trials in our lives.
"Rejoice in sharing." Ok, so I get somehow verbally attacked for being a Christian or for taking a Christian stand and I feel a little bit of heat. The Bible says, "Hey, you’re sharing in the sufferings of Christ. To that degree, rejoice!" We Christians, evangelical types, we are generally tickled to death to share in the life of Christ, aren’t we? So many good things spring from that thought. For one, eternal life.
Is that not good? And aren’t we glad about those verses that say, "because He lives forever and by His spirit He lives in me, therefore, I live forever"? Our eternal life is as sure as His. That’s reassuring. That’s good stuff. That’s happy news. We love that part: eternal life, sharing the life of Jesus. We love the communion of the saints, don’t we? Praying together and sharing together and fellowshipping together and rejoicing together and bearing one another up when things are bad. We have a community of faith in the Christian family that knows no equal anywhere. And the family benefits of being with God’s people, are unrivaled in our world. We love it. Sharing in the life of Christ; you see, one of the benefits of that is sharing in the lives of God’s people. What an adventure it is! And what a joy it is. We like that. We love too, being on the winning team, don’t we? At last night’s basketball game, we scored eight points in the last 16 seconds to win by one. We were sitting in the bleachers on the border between us and the other visiting team. When the ball went through the hoop after the buzzer, three quarters of that building absolutely erupted. One quarter, however, just was totally dumbfounded and I’m thinking, "It is so good to be on the winning team!" And we think about that, I think about that, in regard to Christians. Have you read the end of the book? Folks, because of Jesus, we win! That is great! We love sharing in the victory of Christ and we will clamor for a front row seat at the return of our Savior, when the last trump blows and the myriads and myriads of angelic armies come whipping in to fix all the wrongs, we’ll want to be there, we’ll want to see it. We’ll cheer, we’ll scream, we’ll yell, we’ll stomp, we’ll be eternally grateful that it’s all because He has made it happen! We love being on the winning team, don’t we? But remember the life of Jesus; think this through. Peter would say this to us: "Christian, use your head." Think about this a second: The life of Jesus was temporarily earthbound, correct? And during that time, during His time on earth, did everybody just love Him? No. During His time on earth, He was opposed, He was misunderstood, He was ostracized, and ultimately He was put to death. For what? For being perfect? For being right? For being compassionate and loving and committed to a heavenly agenda? Everything He did was good, everything He said was true and yet, temporarily, in this world He ended up on the cross. Well, the life of Jesus was temporarily earthbound and He was reviled. I need to remind us of something, that the Bible would scream at us. Our lives are temporarily earthbound too. Same thing. Now His spirit lives in us. The things Jesus began to do and to teach while He lived on earth, His representative body, now the church, continues to do and teach. As He was treated, He made very clear, so will His followers be, temporarily. And what the Bible is telling us here is, if we want to share in the life of Jesus Christ, and we love that eternal life and communion of the saints and the winning team, we need to understand that part of sharing in the life of Christ means taking hits like He took too, temporarily. So Peter says, "Don’t be surprised!" It’s kind of part of the package. A couple passages of scripture I want to share: Mark 10, verses 35 to 39 – you may just want to make a note and I’ll read. Interesting conversation occurred toward the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry between the two sons of Zebedee and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is when James and John came to Jesus saying, "You know, we’re quite sure you’re going to win this thing" [I’m paraphrasing] "and when you get it all done and all set up we’d like to sit one on this side and one on that side." By the way, the other gospels indicate their mother was kind of prompting this. "So we’d just like to sort of co-reign with You if it’s all the same to You, Jesus, and He said,
"Are you able to do that? Are you able to endure what I’m about to endure, James and John, sons of Zebedee?" And they said, "We are able." Much as they knew, "Sure, we can do this. We’re able." And He said something then very interesting. "Indeed, you will." You will drink the cup, you will be baptized, but I can’t guarantee you the seats. Jesus was very clear. "As I have been, as it has been toward Me in this world, this temporary world, this antagonistic temporary world, it will also be with you." He was very upfront about that and in John, chapter 13, beginning in verse 16, He says this: "Truly, truly," and by the way, anytime you see a truly, truly -- always pay special emphasis. Any time in Hebrew thought, that the notion is repeated that means stop and think about it, this is major stuff.
Jesus makes a strong connection between Himself and His followers and the Father and says clearly that They are in this together. Do you want to be in this together? Want the good stuff, eternal life, etc.? If we’re in this together, we’re in this together. To share in Christ is a complete package, in other words. With unpleasant temporary times as well as, Peter puts it, "joy inexpressible, revelation of His glory, rejoicing with exultation," and so on and so forth. That’s to come, primarily. For now, however, there’s some tension. In any conflict, whether it’s a high school ballgame, a super bowl with millions of dollars on the line, or something as huge as a world war, the victors always share both difficulties and challenges, as well as success. In any conflict. Jesus said this temporary world constitutes a conflict. You want the good, great. But don’t be surprised when you take some hits. An interesting thing occurred in the Book of Acts, fifth chapter. Again Peter is one of our players. In chapter five, I’m not talking now about Ananias and Sapphira, but beyond that, Peter and his apostles were preaching Jesus as Messiah, Jesus as Anointed Deliverer. That caused the Jewish leadership to bear down heavily on them. And they were going to slay them, according to verse 33. Gamaliel, a wise Pharisee, said, "Other people have claimed to be ‘somebody’, and that didn’t amount to anything, and if this is of God ,we probably ought to let God do what He’s going to do. If we oppose these guys, we could be opposing God. Let’s not kill them." So they didn’t kill them. It says in verse 40 of Acts 5, they took his advice and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them. They got off easy. Just flogged them, and ordered them to speak no more in the name of Jesus and then released them. By the way, a Jewish flogging is much to be preferred to a Roman scourging. A Jewish flogging only went 39 lashes. (Ouch!) Verse 41 says: "They went on their way from the presence of the council…" listen to this… "rejoicing." Rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. Now I don’t know about you, but I can dredge up from my childhood more than one whupping. The memories. I can’t recall a time I went on my way "rejoicing". Can you? In this case, however, they understood. They were rejoicing because they had been included. This is confirmation to them that they were an extension, if you will, of the body of Christ. And they’re being treated as he had been treated and they think that’s fine. It’s so important to them to be counted among His people that they are saying, "If they treat us like that, great! We’re going to rejoice that we’ve been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." Interesting, isn’t it, that verse 14 takes us to point 3 which says, "If you are reviled for the Name, the Name of Christ, you are blessed." Peter now gets a bit theological on us. Maybe he’s recalling that event from Acts chapter 5 as he’s transitioning from thought to thought here, we don’t know. But, without question, he’s alluding to a well-known passage of scripture from Jesus’ sermon on the mount even right out of the beatitudes.
Peter’s thoughts exactly. The key here, and this is something that Peter will come back to and make more of, is, if you are persecuted for the Name, (not for any reason at all, i.e., calling yourself a Christian) – but persecuted for His sake, not our own. The Name, you see, I capitalize that, because it represents the Person of the God of heaven. The Name is an important term. Peter says that, Jesus says, if you are persecuted for the Name – whoa, you’re blessed. Don’t feel blessed, but you are! To be blessed is a huge thing in Scripture. It is to know we enjoy God’s focused favor as part of His special heritage. If we suffer for His name’s sake, that is proof He is looking on us specifically at that moment with His focused favor. That’s good news. You’re blessed. God cares about you. God is working in you. God is watching over you. God is concerned for you because Peter says the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. It’s proof that the Holy Spirit is part of this business; the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit confirms the blessing. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the trademark of the favor of God. I’ll read a string of verses; you just make note of them. Talking of Jesus, a Christmas card passage, Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 2, speaking in advance of the arrival of Messiah, Jesus, says this:
And now we jump ahead several hundred years, to Luke chapter 4, where Jesus stands in the synagogue in Nazareth and says,
And in Romans 8, the apostle Paul ties it all together with these words, speaking now, not of prophets like Isaiah, certainly not of Jesus the Messiah, not even of apostles like Peter; but he’s talking about believers now, anyone who has placed all of his or her trust only in Jesus for eternity is a Christian. And Paul writes this,
You see, when we are blessed of God that means God is making open recognition of our identification with Jesus and saying, "This person is in. This person is one of Mine. This person has been touched, has been blessed, has been tried and My spirit is proof it is there." This is great stuff. I will close with an illustration – a story from the book of Acts chapter 7. By the way, a lot of Christians say, "I don’t really know what the Old Testament is all about; I’ve read some New Testament." If you don’t know – I’d say many Christians are admittedly ignorant of the Old Testament -- read Acts chapter 7. Stephen will tell you. Acts 7 will give you a wonderful overview of the Old Testament and he does this in the book of Acts as a defense of the teaching of the apostles. Anyway, Stephen’s life is on the line and he’s going to lose. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, is going to take his life, have his head. And in Acts 7, following Stephen’s exposition of the Old Testament as he surveys the whole works, and does so right well, standing there before his high-ranking angry accusers. It says in verse 54,
They take him outside, they pick up large stones and stone him to death and the Lord takes him home. An extreme form of reviling. The point is Stephens’s life was blessed by God, marked by his Holy Spirit and he understood the tension of living in this world and the glory that was coming in a fantastic and unprecented way. How do we handle being reproached as Christians? First we need to use our heads, realizing this is the nature of the situation. It is as it will be and as we and if we open our mouths and take a stand in an un-Christian or anti-Christian community and, by the way, that’s coming folks. I’ll make a prediction here that the avenue of attack upon Christians in our culture will be down the road of intolerance. Christians who stand for absolutes and Biblical truths to the exclusion of other options will be labeled intolerant – are being labeled intolerant and intolerant is bad. So they say. Not only intolerant, narrow-minded. And narrow-minded people will come under the scrutiny of our culture and certainly as well under the wrath of our culture from time to time. I heard somebody say, "It’s ok to be narrow-minded if you’re right." The Bible is our foundation, is our Rock and our Lord Jesus is uncompromising in His truth. We cling to Him; it’s temporary. We trust Him, though reviled. We turn to Him and we surrender over and over again knowing we are blessed, knowing the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us and that’s a wonderful thing. © Jim Carlson 2003, Lone Rock Bible Church, Stevensville Montana, USA |