Untitled Sermon (8)

4. Focus on the Servant rather than on Suffering

When our children were younger play this game where they would I stand on my shoes and I would walks with them... Sometimes my stride would be wider then theirs... they had no idea where I was going they just followed... they went where ever I walked.. What does it mean to walk in His Steps..

​1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

We should not expect to avoid some degree of opposition or even persecution and suffering if we follow ChristPeter says --Be mindful of God ... think of the sufferings of Christ -- who suffered by the unjust... What credit is there if you simply endure?? the point is not to be a stoic or a martyr.. Peter is not asking us to suffer for the sake of suffering... no fruit there!! rather do good this is the gracious thing... `When it comes to suffering we follow Christ.... We follow in His Steps.. For this is what you have been called too... wait back up... called to be mistreated.. to suffer... Hang on doesn't the Bible teach us that God always blesses..(Moses chose to suffer with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Pharaohs house) Peter says that you have been called to suffer.. We have his example so that we can follow in his footsteps. Jesus example -- did retaliate... did not threaten... bu continued to entrust himself to the Father who always judges justly How did Christ handle suffering? 1. He didn't respond in a hurtful way... He did not talk himself out of it... He did not threaten others.. he did not revile or abuse back.. He continued to entrust himself to the judge... If you struggle with submission.. look at Christ and the brutal scene of the cross... He himself bore our sins in his body... He felt the pain.. those were not pretend nails... He was fully man and felt every physical, emotional pain.. Martin Luther summarized the example of Christ well when he wrote, “When I consider my crosses, tribulations, and temptations, I shame myself almost to death thinking what are they in comparison to the sufferings of my blessed Savior Christ Jesus.” What is accomplished through suffering? Peter quotes the book of

​Isaiah 53:3 ESV3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Peter and the Prophet Isaiah both viewed the Cross but from different Isaiah looked into the future and saw the finished work of Calvary. He said, “… by His stripes, we are healed.” Peter witnessed the Cross firsthand. He looked back at what Jesus had already done and said, “...by whose stripes you were healed.” Now when you read the Word, you can know with full assurance that your healing has already been provided and paid for.Declaration of Faith: By His stripes, I was healed more than 2,000 years ago. I receive and stand in what Jesus did for me. In this, God is glorified.. By His wounds we have been healed... By his suffering we have been made whole...His sufferings brought us back.. we have returned to the shepherd of and overseer of our souls...