1 Peter 4:12-19 - Suffering as a Christian

1Peter 4:12-19 Continue to do Good Summer Hill Church Week 1 of Distributed Church 22 March 2020 1. How safe is your future? a. This is the weirdest sermon I have ever had to give i. Not in content of course, there have been plenty of really weird ones ii. But in its context. I - perhaps deludedly - think that people might one day sit and listen to sermons of mine they have missed, or want to listen again to. iii. But never thinking that the intended recipients would all be distanced in time and place. (1) I’m in my home office, preaching at my wall, feeling like an idiot…..What! Nobody laughed! b. but in a way this is very like the letter of Peter. i. which starts like this: (1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, (2) To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,1:1 (3) but today it’s more like (4) Ken, a minister of Jesus Christ, (5) To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Summer Hill, Ashfield, Dulwich Hill, Croydon Park and the Inner West, 1Peter 1:1 KCV ii. There is a very important word in there - scattered, dispersed. Spread around (1) and that is exactly what we are today. (a) as you listen to this most likely you are in your own lounge-room taking part in meetings all over the inner west, and in truth all over the city. iii. as Christians meet to encourage one another around the word of God and prayer. (1) I am humbled and thankful to God for the generosity of your hosts, whether an online host or a living room host. Both are happening. (a) it’s wonderful to know that you are all there. Listening to me speak, yesterday! iv. In the words of Peter, brothers and sisters (1) grace and peace to you in abundance. (a) Wherever it is you are listening to this, I wish I was with you in person, but thanks to the amazing efforts of Lauren, Ben and Chris we are still together in heart and Spirit. c. But do you feel it? Do you feel thankful to God deep down for what is happening around us? i. Now I don’t mean for an instant that we should rejoice in the worldwide death toll, or the thousands of seriously ill people. (1) but as someone said to me the other day, we need to hear what God is saying to us in all this. (a) and yes, that’s true - but I want to modify that question slightly - what is it that God wants us to learn through all this! ii. God is always teaching us, because he is a loving father. (a) even in and through this difficult time, he is still teaching us (2) but we usually don’t want to listen - that’s called Sin iii. the problem is with times like this is - what are we supposed to learn? (1) a picture paints a thousand words, but what are the words! d. But the words of Scripture are amazing, and speak into our deepest needs. i. we didn’t plan this passage, but the appropriateness of what God is saying can hardly be missed. (1) listen to v 1 2. Don’t be surprised a. at the ordeal i. Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. v12 ii. is that it feels like to you at the moment? A fiery ordeal? (1) do you feel tested? Underneath the civil exterior, is there a part of you that, if you walked by a mountain of pasta tomorrow, unattended, you wouldn’t walk home with more than your fair share? (a) are you shocked by the breakdown in our civilised society so quickly. and are you tempted to “join the fray” or “lose the day”?? iii. but this is fundamentally losing our trust in God. iv. The fiery ordeal that is most prominent in the OT is when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego we thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar. (1) How about you pause the recording just here, and read from the Bible (a) Daniel 3:8–18 or Daniel 3:1-30 v. They refused to bow to the king Nebuchadnezzar - instead they put their trust in God (1) This has been happening to the people of God from the very beginning vi. they are faced with fiery ordeals, and the question comes - will we trust God in the midst of it. Or will we turn and trust our right arm, bank accounts, or clever brains. (1) We shouldn’t be surprised. This happens all the time, and if we aren’t facing this struggle of do I trust God in this situation, I will guarantee it’s not because we are trusting God too much, but because we are more sinful than we care to admit to ourselves. (a) and the test is - do we believe it’s strange, or do we see it’s for our good. vii. would you have just said - it’s just a statue- bow - we don’t believe it’s a real God after all…. or would we have gone to the furnace like Sahdrach Meshach and Abednego b. but rejoice i. rather - as Peter says - rejoice (1) But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. v13 ii. rejoice that we participate in the sufferings of Christ. (1) Now that phrase has sparked my interest this week. What sufferings of Christ? The cross? We don’t share in that… so what sufferings of Christ do we participate in? (a) the clearest time we see in the gospels when Jesus suffers is not on the cross, which is actually quite abbreviated, almost clinical in its description (2) but rather, in the garden and on the path to the cross. As he struggled with the dread of what he saw ahead, he sweated drops of blood! - not in dread I think of the physical pain, as great as that might be - but the spiritual pain of bearing the sin of whole world on his sinless back and his punctured hands and feet. (a) as he struggled - “do I obey God,” or do I follow what the world wants, what would lead him to sin. (i) so as we struggle with those exact things, not the physical fear of getting sick with coronavirus or of running out things we may consider to be sanitarily necessary (b) but with the deep seated desire to not obey God. To avoid the suffering (3) rather, will we with Jesus actually say with him in the garden (i) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 (b) Because when we are like that, we are truly like Christ (i) and facing that challenge means that we are in the battle, and contested over. It shows we are his. You don’t battle over conquered ground! (c) Rejoice - because when Christ’s glory is revealed you will be vindicated and your living hope will come to full flower. 3. Do not be Ashamed a. of suffering for Christ i. then Peter says don’t be ashamed of suffering as a Christian. (1) However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1Peter 4:16 ii. what is it that would mean that you suffer for being a Christian at this moment (a) Lenin said (i) “Every society is three meals away from chaos” iii. what would it take for you and I to descend to chaos. It was only a little over a week ago people were punching each other over tp (1) there have been wholesale thefts of all sorts of goods, such that the supermarket shelves are bare. (a) despite the reassurances of government that there is plenty to go round, the staples are harder and harder to get. (i) I heard yesterday of full buses from Sydney going to supermarkets in the country and stripping them! (b) do you feel chaos inching closer? (2) there is as we are tempted not to trust God - and take things into our hands. To take control ourselves to somehow secure our future, iv. and it is to our shame that in history at times Christians have way too often done exactly that (1) and so Christians, can suffer justly as well as unjustly (a) If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. v15 (2) There are sorts of motivations for theft and murder. But one is desperate need and fear. And that is NOT what we should be suffering for, because we trust in a God who gives us a living hope. Not an empty shelf. b. but praise i. and so praise God that have the amazing privilege knowing our world does not hang in the balance over pasta, or flour, or anything like that. (1) However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. v16 (2) praise God, because when we suffer for the name of Christ it shows we are his. It reinforces that we are God’s people (a) and even more, that we are blessed! (i) If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. v14 (b) We are blessed when we are insulted. When we are abused, taken advantage of, when we are wronged. Because we are Christian, (i) that is SO against our nature isn’t it. (c) we feel used, we feel it’s all unfair. We are trying to be Christian, but people are taking advantage of that. (3) but the completely unbelievable news is that when that happens, you are blessed. You become more like Christ. You more and more bear the name, the family resemblance of our Lord and Saviour. (a) So praise God for him making you more and more like Jesus. (4) because - a very important word here. For! 4. For it is time a. for judgement (1) For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” vv17–18 ii. the age of judgement is upon us. (1) in our age it is really unpopular to speak about the judgment of God. And people who do are often ridiculed and ostracised. (a) people will hate us for saying they are facing the judgement of God (2) but will be completely happy for us to be Christian, provided it doesn’t mean they have to change their life at all. (a) and so often what people hear us say is, I am good, and you are bad, so I get to heaven and you go to hell. I’ve earned more God coloured brownie points so I get in and you get shut out. iii. which has actually been preached from so-called Christian pulpits for 100 years. (1) but listen again to what Peter says. (a) For it is time for judgment to begin (i) now, as we are here, we are in the age of judgement. Jesus tells us this 1) Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. John 12:31 (b) judgement is beginning NOW - because Christ is the judge of all the world! (i) but that’s not all Peter says (c) For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household. v17 (2) judgement starts with us! (a) Will we out our trust in Christ, and live the way Christ would (i) would we rather suffer than be drawn into sin, even when it costs us. (ii) Even when so much of our being desires to be somewhere else. How will we act. What really matters to us? (3) He leaves us in no doubt that we will be judged (a) but that also means terrible things for the rest of the world (i) For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? v17 (b) A few weeks ago, I said that it was not our job to be the moral arbiters of the world, to tell them how to live. And I stand by that. (4) but if we are not the moral arbiters of the world let me tell you what we are: We are God’s priests. A royal priesthood. We all stand in this world representing Christ (a) not the pope, not the archbishop, not just the minister. We are ALL priests. (i) It is crystal clear - the only way people in this world will know about Christ is if his people live a life worthy, and speak a word of gospel 1) It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, v13 (5) but we will suffer for it, we will be excluded from things, because the message we have to share is one that people will deeply dislike. (a) and the life we should live is a life that will cause us to suffer. (6) so what should we do? (a) So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. v19 (7) continue to do good. Continue to speak and to live as one of Christ’s people, no matter the cost. 5. The future is safe a. the great news of being a Christian is that our future is safe. We will face God’s judgement. We will be brought to account for the things we have done, and not done i. but because Jesus stands with us, and his death and resurrection cover us, we are safe. ii. it’s an amazing thing to remember that the God of the universe is our father - and he loves us (1) and whatever happens, life or death, suffering or ease, coronavirus or the common cold, he loves us, and will never let us go. (2) and if you are sitting in our small group today, you can know that great hope, you can be assured of God’s love. You can have a new start in Christ right now. Just ask God to be your master, and trust that he will look after you. Talk to us about it. Contact us using the info on your screen now. iii. but the word for us who are Christians could not be clearer. (1) rejoice that we suffer for being Christian, for having Christian character and speaking Christian words iv. and trust God that he will look after us in all these circumstances. (1) so (2) So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. v19 Let’s pray Pray that we will understand deeply the privilege it is to become more and more like Christ. That we will take the opportunities we have now as we meet in smaller groups to deeply love one another and live the Christian life no matter the cost. Help us to be commit ourselves to our faithful creator- who will never let us down - and continue to doing good. The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be amongst you, and remain with you always.