Esteem Christ While Suffering

Announcements

Good Morning & Welcome to Guests

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Back table near offering basket

Drop it off in the offering basket.

Yesterday’s Work Day – Thank You

Next Work Day = Saturday, November 14 @ 9am-2pm

Let Elizabeth Palmer know if you plan to come.

Land Sold – Look for some beautification to be taking place, improvements in the weeks/months coming up.

Biblical Counseling Training Class

Thursday evening from 6-8pm

The topics this week will be Understanding Sanctification & the Process of Biblical Change.

Anyone is welcome to come for any of the individual classes offered over the next 5 weeks even if you do not wish to attend the entire course.

Christmas Choir

Meet at Piano after service

Sunday, October 25

Mark & Christy Patterson

Fellowship Meal

Opening Prayer

Being Harmed for Doing Good is Uncommon

1 Peter 3:13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

Last Sunday, we concluded by looking at Psalm 34:12-16 which is what Peter quotes here in v.10-12 of Chapter 3.

As I stated last week, Peter is quoting this passage in Psalm 34 to teach a general principle...

And that principle is that a person that lives an upright life will typically have a more peace filled life...

They will generally experience less turmoil, less problems.

Less suffering at the hands of others.

Now, let’s put this in perspective...

Does this mean you won’t have suffering? No.

But, generally speaking...

If you live a law-abiding life:

You typically don’t worry about going to jail.

You typically don’t worry about being in the headlines as a criminal.

You typically don’t worry about hiring lawyers.

You typically don’t worry about court hearing.

If you treat others with respect and do not slander others:

You typically don’t worry about people wanting to harm you.

You typically don’t worry others being on a mission to ruin your reputation.

You get the picture, generally speaking, you will live a better, more peace filled life...

Then if you live an evil, rebellious, slandering, criminal type life.

I’ve said this before…think about how life would be if every one sought to obey the ten commandments...

Think about the peaceful life we would live:

No locked doors.

No fears for walking late at night.

No fears of being robbed, mugged.

No fears of cheating in relationships.

No fear that someone is lying to you and trying to hoodwink you.

Think about how great a culture could be if they sought to live by the ten commandments.

That’s why Peter quotes Psalm 34 and says...

1 Peter 3:10-12 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

The common grace of God causes a general principle to be in affect...

Generally, an upright life is followed by a more peace-filled, longer lived life...

However, this does not rule out the fact that God can have different purposes for different people...

Or different purposes for different generations.

He has the prerogative to do what He wills in the heavens and on earth.

v.12 reads For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Listen to a Q&A’s from the Heidelberg Catechism on God’s providence...

Question: What do you understand by the providence of God?

Answer: Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which He upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty - all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from His fatherly hand.

Question: How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us?

The answer to this question is what v.12 is teaching us...

Answer: We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.

Now, Peter in v.13 states a rhetorical question...

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

Again, generally speaking…no one.

But, Peter knows what some of the people are going through...

The Word of God knows what happens to Christians in certain times of history...

Peter knows what happened to His Lord for the very reason of living righteously...

It goes against the general rule, but it happens nonetheless.

When does it typically happen, historically speaking...

In mass quantity, it happens when a culture drifts down the Romans 1 path of searing its conscience...

This is, typically, when you see those who obey God’s moral law in trouble with the culture.

On an individual basis, whenever your good exposes someone else’s badness.

Having No Fear In Suffering

1 Peter 3:14-15a But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,

Notice, suffering for righteousness sake isn’t common...

But it’s something that every Christian in some degree will face...

Some to the degree they may be slandered and not included in certain things...

Some to the degree of death.

But, how you handle suffering is more important topic.

And, we notice this battle that Peter brings to our awareness...

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled vs. honor Christ the Lord as holy

There’s a battle raging when we suffer for righteousness sake.

There’s a way in which we will be tempted to lean when we suffer for honoring Christ.

Notice…this is so important...

Notice where the battle is raging?

but in your heart…v.15a

Your heart is going to be tempted to fear your persecutor...

And be troubled that you’re being persecuted.

This troubled fearful heart looks different in the life of a believer and an unbeliever.

What does that look like in an unbeliever’s life?

Matthew 13:20-21 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Why does it look like that in an unbeliever’s life?

Because they do not honor Christ as Lord...

Nor do they believe that He is holy.

That’s the root that is missing in the parable.

And it is the root that keeps us when believer’s face persecution for righteousness sake.

What does it mean to honor Christ as Lord?

It means to acknowledge His deity.

It means to acknowledge is sovereignty.

It means to acknowledge His omnipotence.

It means to acknowledge that He is sovereignly working out His plan.

What does it mean to believe that Christ is holy?

If you toy with believing the idea that Christ is Lord...

Sovereign over all...

And, suffering comes…like in the parable...

You will fall away because of your dislike of your circumstances...

And, your unwillingness to trust God’s plan for your life...

Even if it means suffering.

So, those who fall away are toying with the idea of Christ as Lord...

Until suffering comes...

When suffering comes…they lose their ability to submit to One whose holy plans do not bring them temporal prosperity and comfort.

So, going back to the question...What does it mean to believe that Christ is holy?

It means to acknowledge that He is omniscient.

It means to acknowledge that He knows the end from the beginning.

It means to acknowledge that He is using all of His holy attributes for your ultimate good.

It means to acknowledge that He has gone through much more for you than we can go through for Him.

The acknowledgement of Christ as Lord and Christ as holy...

Is what carries us through the temptation to ultimately fall away when suffering comes.

This battle that rages in our heart while suffering is remedied...

By remembering these two truths.

Christ is Lord & Christ is holy!

How Does Suffering Bring Blessedness to a Christian?

1 Peter 3:14-15a But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

What does Peter mean, you will be blessed?

How does suffering make anyone feel blessed?

What does to be blessed mean biblically?

Blessed means to be happy, it implies enjoying favorable circumstances, possessing the favor of God, the state of being marked by fulness from God.

This is all that Peter has been talking about...

Having the favor of God.

Being marked by the fulness of God.

Being happy in God.

This is what shows the world that we treasure God more than the world or what it offers.

When our cup of happiness and joy is filled with God...

And, not things.

When our cup of happiness is filled with the friendly, loving, reconciled presence of God...

And, not the temporal pleasures that this world offers.

This is why we can be mindful of God.

This is why we can follow the example of Christ.

This is why we can endure hardship.

Because earthly comforts do not fill our cup of happiness...

Only God can do that.

So, we are blessed that the world can get a glimpse of what brings us happiness.

They can witness what fulfills us…God.

But suffering for doing good shows us something, as well.

It shows us something that is so precious.

It shows us something so precious that its value cannot be measured.

Listen to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount...

Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Did you hear that?

Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing good…theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted for honoring the One who is good…for your reward is great in heaven.

Enduring suffering for doing good is a sign that you have been delivered from the domain of darkness and delivered into the Kingdom of Christ.

So, what is this showing us?

What is enduring suffering showing us?

How is enduring suffering ever able to fill my cup of happiness?

Enduring suffering for Christ is filling my cup of happiness because it brings assuredness of my belonging to Christ...

And, assuredness of belonging to Christ fills the cup of happiness for a Christian.

Isn’t that wonderful.

1 Peter 3:14-15a Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,

If you suffer and maintain a regard in your heart for Christ as Lord & holy...

Then you are a testimony of a heart that has been renewed.

What fantastic things that the Lord does in us and through us!

Let us praise Him!

Closing Prayer