Liturgy 2/2/25

Confession of Sin

1 Peter 4:12–16 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Why are we always surprised by trials?

Do you rejoice when you suffer for Christ?

How much of your suffering; how many trials are of your own making and not related to suffering for the cause of Christ?

Often we avoid identifying with Christ because we don’t want to suffer, although Peter says it’s there we will find blessing, and find ourselves instead suffering for our own sin.

Let us confess the ways we have avoided suffering for the cause of Christ:

an unwillingness to be publicly known as a Christian

to say something when we know something is wrong

Failing to maintain holiness because of pressure to conform (just bake the cake, go to the wedding, and use the pronouns)

Or, as Jesus has been instructing us: Refusing to love sacrificially one another.

Introduction

The eleventh commandment is, thou shalt be nice.

Acknowledge the common desire to be liked and accepted.

Introduce the idea that the world's acceptance is not the ultimate goal for Christians.

Briefly explain the three worlds framework (positive, neutral, negative) and that the church today is operating in the negative world.

The problem with winsome is that it assumes if the world hates us we are doing something wrong and should change (ethics)

But Jesus tells His disciples that they will be hated by the world.

The World Hates You Because It Hated Jesus

Jesus prepares his disciples for the road ahead by explaining the reasons for the world's hatred.

It's important to understand why the world behaves the way it does, so Christians don't lose hope or second-guess their choices.

If they hate you, it’s because they hated me first.

John 15:20 ESV

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

The world's hatred of Christians is because of their association with Jesus.

He provides the model for how to endure and to respond

They Learn two things:

Hatred and persecution are not new.

They hate Jesus first, and only the hate the disciples because they belong to him.

The World Hates You Because You Are Not of the World

The world loves their own. Who are these?

"The world" refers to those who have set themselves against God.

Christians are chosen out of the world, which causes friction with those who are of the world.

Based on election.

Jesus laid this out in terms that might be easier to understand when he spoke of being the Good Shepherd.

John 10:22–30 ESV

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Because Christians don't act like the world, they are seen as a threat.

The World's Hatred is Inexcusable and Will Be Judged

The world's hatred of Christ is rooted in their rejection of His words and works, which are revelations of the Father.

John 3:16–21 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Rejection of Jesus is also a rejection of the Father.

Again, this is not surprising, but part of the plan.

John 15:25 ESV

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

God will hold the world accountable for their hatred and persecution of Christ and His church.

Matthew 23:29–36 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

God Forewarns You So That You Will Not Fall Away

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Jesus warns his disciples of the coming persecution so they will be ready and not fall away.

The world's hatred and persecution will either winnow or strengthen the Church.

Winnowing: there are no fruitless branches in the vine.

The world's hatred is one of the Father's tools to prune and strengthen you.

1 Peter 4:12–14 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

James 1:2–4 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Yet, when we suffer, we are almost always surprised (Why God Why)

It's important not to avoid suffering, but instead, embrace it as part of the Christian life.

In 1651 the Scottish Divines gathered to confess their sins together:

"Instability and wavering in the ways of God, through the fears of persecutions, hazard, or loss of esteem; and declining duties because of the fear of jealousies and reproaches. Not esteeming the cross of Christ, and sufferings for His name, honorable, but rather shifting sufferings, from self-love.

Are you avoiding suffering?

By hiding your faith to avoid suffering (bigot, homophobe)

Or so you get that promotion.

What ways have you cheapened the cost of discipleship by refusing to go outside the camp and suffer with Christ?

Faith in Christ is a public task, requires that you bear witness

Bearing witness is much more than handing out tracts.

John 15:26 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

The Holy Spirit empowers you to bear witness.

Nothing speaks louder than a Christian who, amid the world’s ire and persecution, they maintain their joy as they suffer for the cause of Christ.

Acts 5:40–42 ESV

and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Paul and Silas in prison

Acts 16:25 ESV

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

The world is always watching you

And that means that if the Lord should call you to suffer, you must pray that he enables you to bear witness to Him in your suffering.

Not all hatred/persecution from the world is out there.

The Internal Battle Against the World

There is a war within you against the world in your own flesh.

Paul’s prescription for overcoming sin is to “set your mind on the things above, not on things that are on the earth” (Col 3:2).

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 ESV

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

1 John 2:15–17 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

You must choose to not love the world and allow it to shape your desires.

Worship is a chance to have our loves calibrated to point to God.

Conclusion

So consider yourself forewarned: they hated Christ, they will hate you. Do not be surprised when this happens. Prepare for it by arming yourself with God’s precious promises. Especially this, which could be the theme of this whole Farewell discourse: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (Jn 14:27). Amen. Let’s pray.

Lord's Supper Meditation

Here we are invited to sit down at a table in the presence of our enemies. They may be right outside the door, but we can sit down in peace because we know that real peace is not found in being friends with the world, Its not found in making them think we are one of them. Remember, real peace is the absence of hostility, the absence of hatred and enmity, but not with the world, with God. When you are at peace with God, it doesn’t matter if the world hates you. You can have perfect peace even when they hate you and try to kill you because Jesus has removed any trace of hatred God would have had for you. For there will come a point when God’s love for the world, the love that moved Him to send His only Son to come and save it from sin, there will come a time when that love has accomplished His mission. Then he will no longer extend love and mercy through the message of the gospel, but he will, in the great fury of His wrath make war against the world. He will visit the fierceness of His wrath on the world by avenging the blood of the martyrs, those who cry out even now from beneath the throne, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Re 6:10). Then the world will have no excuse for their rejection of Jesus, then the world will held accountable for their sins and for their hatred and persecution of Christ and His church. But until then, may the peace of Christ enable you to endure patiently the hatred and persecution of the world, by coming to this table and eating and drinking by faith. Let me remind you that by doing so you also public proclaim His death, and that at least means that you will say publicly–I identify with Him. It means that you accept that when you do so, it may mean that your body will be torn and your blood may be poured out too. And that is a price you would willingly pay that the world may know you are with Him. As Paul said, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Co 10:16). You must not expect participation in the death of Christ to be a pain free experience. If you have then I promise you when hardships come you will flee from Christ, and abandon the faith. And if you do, you will prove that you never belonged to Christ. But I feel sure of better things for you. Here then this exhortation from the Author of Hebrews,

“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Heb 10:32–39).

So to those who are willing to drink the cup of Christ’s sufferings, come by faith and preserve your soul by fortifying your faith through the persevering grace of Christ offered you in this meal today.

Charge

Do not be surprised: the world will hate you and persecute you. But remember, it does so because you are not one of them; because you belong to Christ, and the world hated Him first. He has told you so that you would be ready, and when it comes, you would not be surprised and fall away. And he has given you His Spirit so that in your suffering you may bear witness to Christ.