Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Sep 06, 2009: 1 Peter 3:8-17
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009. As we continue our study in the book of Peter, here in chapter 3, we've been dealing with the subject of sojourners. For the past several weeks, we've dealt with this subject as Peter began it back in chapter 2 and is really concluding it and wrapping it up today here in chapter 3. In verse 8, at the very beginning, he says, Finally, and with this word, he's connecting the previous thoughts and the things that we've been talking about with the things he's about to share. It's like the conclusion of this discourse on being a sojourner. Now, what does it mean to be a sojourner and what are we talking about? Very quickly, let's just turn back to chapter 2 for a moment and look at verse 11 and 12 where Peter begins this discussion on being a sojourner. Verse 11 of 1 Peter chapter 2, he says, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. And so as Peter begins this discussion, he's begging us to be sojourners and pilgrims, because we are in this world only for a temporary time, only for a short season. The word sojourner means stranger or foreigner, or it describes one who lives in a place without the rights of citizenship. It's someone who is here, but they don't have the rights of a citizen here. And that is our condition in this world. We've learned for the past couple of weeks that our citizenship is is not in this world, but it's in heaven. That's where our rights are as citizens. That's where we belong, but we're visiting temporarily. And I really like the example or illustration of camping. You know, we're kind of out in the wilderness and we're roughing it right now for the season, but we've got a mansion back home that we're going to go to, that we're preparing and making our way towards. Eternity with God is our destination. That's our home. And temporarily, here, we're sojourners. We're roughing it out in the wilderness. And what Peter is saying is as we're here as sojourners, we're just traveling through, we're here temporarily, that we're here temporarily with a purpose. And there's an objective that we are seeking to obtain as sojourners. And Peter explains it in that everyone around us is going to have to stand before God. Everyone that we can come in contact with is going to stand before God. The friends and family that we relate to regularly, they're going to stand before God. Our co-workers are going to stand before God. Everyone around us is going to stand before God one day, the day of visitation. And what Peter is saying is that we are to conduct ourselves as sojourners in an honorable way that in that day when those people around us stand before God, that they glorify God because of the good works which they observed in us. that our lives are lived in such a way that they stand before God and testify of the things that we did, the life that we lived, the choices that we made, the way that we conducted ourselves. And it glorifies God because if they're believers and they stand before God, they will testify to God and glorify God about how He worked through us to impact their lives and minister to them and build them up. If they're not believers and they stand before God, they will glorify God, saying, God, you were speaking to me. You were reaching out to me. I knew it. I saw it. The way that they lived their life, you were proclaiming yourself to me, but I still refused. So either way, they will glorify God in the day of visitation, Peter says. You're to live your life in such a way that in that day, as they stand before God, they glorify Him because of the good works that you did, because of the way that you conduct yourself honorably. And so how do we do that? How do we conduct ourselves honorably as sojourners? Well, Peter then went on to give some examples. He started out there in chapter 2 as we continued on. We We conduct ourselves honorably by submitting to governing authority. The way that we be a witness to the world around us is we obey, he says, every ordinance of man. That we obey the laws and that we keep subjection to the authorities, the governing authorities that are over us. The second way that he began to talk about, as we went on further in chapter 2, was submission not just to governing authorities, but to employer authorities. Those who are above us in the workplace, those who have authority, our bosses and supervisors, were to be obedient to them and submissive to them, subject to them, in order to be a shining light, in order to be a witness there in the workplace. He went on and ended chapter 2 talking about suffering like Christ. And we as sojourners are a light to the world around us by patiently enduring suffering just like Jesus Christ did. Well, last week we started chapter 3 and in verses 1 through 7, Peter dealt with the subject of sojourners within the home and how being a husband and wife as God has called us to be is a bright and shining witness to the world around us and we're called to be submitted to one another. He tells the wives to be submitted to their husbands and to adorn their hearts, to take care of the inner person, which is what God is concerned with. And in that way, she will be a sojourner. She will be conducting herself in an honorable way that is a witness to the world around her and specifically to her own husband. And if her husband is not a believer, it's a powerful witness to him when she conducts herself this way that he might have the opportunity to be saved. He went on to talk about husbands and how husbands are to understand their wives and dwell with her with understanding. And it's also a submission that we were talking about last week. And you can get the CD or listen online if you want to hear more details about that. But to understand the wife and to give honor to her was the command that Peter gave husbands. As husbands, this is how we are to live. This is how we are to conduct ourselves as sojourners so that... When the people around us, our husbands, our wives, our children, our friends, our family, our cousins, our co-workers, our neighbors, the people that we met in the grocery store, whatever the case may be, when they stand before God in the day of visitation, as we are submitted to God in all of these different areas, as we walk in an honorable way, conducting ourselves as sojourners, they will glorify God because of the life that we lived. And so as he begins to wrap up this subject now and wrap up this idea of being a sojourner, now he directs our attention, first of all, to how we relate to one another within the body of Christ. And he's going to call us, first of all, to love other Christians. Look with me at verse 8, please. He says, Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, and be courteous. Here Peter gives several different characteristics of the relationship that we are to have between brothers and sisters in the Lord as believers in Jesus Christ. And I wrap up all these characteristics into the one word, love. Because it really describes and fulfills all of these things that Peter is talking about. Sometimes as Christians, we approach love in an interesting way that it's kind of like we have the mentality, well, as long as I don't hate somebody, then I love them. As long as I don't I'm not hurting them, then I love them. And that's what I'm called to do. And that's what I'm required to do. But love is not in a passive way in that sense, but love is really reaching out. And we'll see that in the things that Peter shares here. So he starts out saying, finally, all of you be of one mind. How do we love one another? Well, first of all, we need to be like-minded. He calls all of us as Christians to be like-minded. He calls all of us to be of one mind. What is that one mind that we are to be? What is the one mind that we are to have? It does not mean that we all have to think exactly the same or have all the same opinions or be just like each other. But it does mean that we are to have one purpose, one attitude, one heart specifically to The mind that God has instructed us to have in His Word. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul tells us, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. So if we're to be of one mind, this is the mind that we are to be. He says, let the mind that Christ had be also in you. Make this decision, decide to live this way. And what did he do? Well, it goes on in Philippians 2 verse 6. He says, What was the mind that was in Christ that is to be in us as well? Well, Jesus humbled himself and came to serve. Just kind of simplifying it a little bit. humbled himself and came to serve. And that's the mind that you and I are to have. As sojourners, we're here temporarily. We need to be of one mind. We need to humble ourselves and realize that we are here to serve. We're not here to meet our own needs and to fulfill ourselves and to accomplish everything that we desire. We're here to serve. God has placed us here as sojourners to be a witness to the world around us. And we are here to serve. It's like what Jesus said that if you want to find your life, you have to lose it. And he says, if you lose your life for my sake, you'll find it. That is, if you give of yourself, then you'll find life. You'll find the fulfillment and the satisfaction. You'll find everything that you're trying to get out of life by losing your life, by serving others, by dying to yourself. So he says, all of you be of one mind, the mind that was also in Christ Jesus. There's another part to this as well that we could consider here. Another mind that we can have in Colossians chapter 3 verse 2, Paul says, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. And so we are to have the mind of Christ, humility and service, but we're also to set our mind on the things that are above. Because as we've been discussing in this subject of sojourners, the things that are here are temporary and they're not going to last forever. The things that are above, the things of eternity, well, they last forever and that's where our minds need to be set. And so if we are to be of one mind, it means that we're coming together for a common purpose. We're heading down the same road. We have the same destination. It does not mean that we're all exactly the same. We're individuals and we have unique callings. We have unique giftings. We have unique personalities. But we're all sojourners. I like the way David Guzik illustrates this. He says, And that's us as Christians. We are to be like a choir. Now, in a choir, not everybody sings exactly the same. You have the bass, and then you have the other ones. I can never remember them. So, the low, the mids, the highs. You have the various ranges. You have people that sing the melody, which is like the normal thing. And then you have those who sing the harmony, which is some weird thing that I don't understand. And all these different parts. But hey, when it comes together, when everybody sings and everybody does their part, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. Or like an orchestra, you know, you don't just have one instrument, you have a whole orchestra and so everybody does their part, it sounds a little bit different, but it comes together and it plays one song, it's one sound. In the same way, we are as Christians, you know, you're in that workplace and you're over here in this environment and I'm over here in this place and you're in that arena and all of us together, we're like a choir. We're singing our different parts. We're using our different gifts. We're fulfilling our different callings and together, as we are of one mind, we're being sojourners, heading towards eternity, humbling ourselves, serving others and focused on the things that are above. And so he says, all of you be of one mind. And then he goes on to say, having compassion for one another. I like this word compassion. It means to feel together, to feel together. It's from this word that we get the English word sympathy. And so you know what it means to have sympathy or you've heard the expression sympathy pains. Someone else is hurting and you feel that pain in the same way. This is how we are to be towards one another as Christians. We're to have compassion. You know, the Bible says that we weep with those who weep and we rejoice with those who rejoice. We often talk about the body of Christ that, you know, we're not independent as believers in Jesus Christ. But God has designed the body of Christ in such a way that we're knit together, that we are a part of one another and that we need each other. And so we are to have compassion and feel as one member suffers, we feel it. We suffer along with them. We've experienced that recently as there's been some difficulties in families and difficulties in lives that they're going through and financial situations and loss of loved ones and things like that. And we hurt with those who hurt. We suffer with those who suffer. And that's appropriate and that's right. God has called us to be knit together and to have compassion, to feel what others are feeling and what they're going through. He also calls us to love as brothers. This is the word Philadelphia. And it's a reminder that we are the family of God. We're brothers and sisters in the Lord. We're not just, you know, some strangers that get together. We're not just a club, you know, that you join and, okay, you know, congratulations, you're a member. We're a family. You're born into the family. You're part of the family. There's this bond that connects us, that unites us. God has placed us together as a family. And as brothers and sisters, we're to love. Love one another and care for one another and look out for one another and each other's best interests. He also says we're to be tender hearted, to be tender hearted. Now, this is a difficult one at times for us because the very nature of being tender hearted also leaves you a little bit vulnerable and open for the opportunity to be hurt. But he calls us to be tender hearted. There's a brother in the fellowship and I don't want to steal his reward by mentioning his name, so I'm not going to do that. But I just have been observing recently. There's been a couple of situations and it just kind of caught me and I noticed... There's a real tenderheartedness there. There's someone sharing a story and as they were sharing a story, I mean, I was watching him, he was immediately connected. His heart was touched and he was engaged and he had compassion and they were feeling it and the story is being expressed and there was just this bond that was there and there was this full attention there. And it was remarkable and it was unique. It was really wonderful to see the body of Christ work that way as we're called to be. That we, as we are amongst each other, that we have a tender heart, that we connect with one another, that we don't just... It's so easy to be hard-hearted and to kind of just blow off and, oh, that's... That's what you're going, that's easy, no big deal, you know. Or we're just insensitive to what they're going through, what their needs are, what they're feeling and so on and so forth. Now, it doesn't mean that we have to be all about feelings, but to be tender hearted, to have a sincere heart and to care for those around us is what Peter is calling us to. And finally, he says, be courteous. Now, as you look at all of these elements that Peter is describing here, I could understand that we could look at these and say, well, does this really need to be shared, you know, amongst Christians and in a church? Is this really necessary? And for those of you who are new believers and might be thinking that, I apologize about what may come in the future. But the reality is Christians don't always act as Christians. And within the church, we need to be reminded to have compassion, We need to be reminded to love as brothers. We need to be reminded to be tender-hearted. And we need to be reminded to be courteous. The word courteous, it means simply to be friendly and kind. I mean, that's pretty simple, but it's sometimes something that people lack. And sometimes an area that we need to grow. And so Peter calls us to love one another, to love other Christians more. And these different aspects, but now he continues on. These are kind of the positive ones. How we're to be. Now this is what we're not to do. Look at verse 9. He says, And so he says, here's what you're not to do. You're not to return evil for evil, Nor are you to return reviling for reviling. Again, just to remind, we're in the context of relating to one another as Christians. And we're not to return evil for evil or reviling for reviling. Sometimes we hurt each other and we offend each other and we're mean to each other. Sometimes we really blow it. Sometimes we revile. Sometimes we do evil. Now, when that is done towards us, Peter says... We're not to return in kind. We're not to return the same behavior. We're not to do evil back in order to repay. We're not to revile back. It means abusive speech. Someone speaking bad about us or against us. It's quite natural for us. Our natural desire is to respond the same way or worse in how they're treating us. when they harm us, when they slander us, when they make fun of us. It's normal, it's natural for us to do the same thing back. There's a saying that goes around and Patty often quotes it after I scare her. She says, I don't get mad, I get even. I'm not rebuking or chastising Patty. She has every right to get even with me. That's okay, I'm just scaring her. But when it comes to doing evil and reviling, there's no place for this in our hearts. This is not a Christian saying, I don't get mad, I get even. That's not something that Jesus said. I don't think it was in red letters. And so it's not a way that we're to live. It's not an attitude that we're to have. Peter says, no, don't do that. Don't return evil for evil. And don't return reviling for reviling. Jesus is our example on how to do this. In 1 Peter 2, we saw it last week in verse 23 or two weeks ago. It says that when Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return. And when he suffered, he didn't threaten, but he committed himself to him who judges righteously. And so Jesus didn't respond when people reviled against him. He didn't revile back when people threatened him. He didn't threaten back or when they harmed him. He didn't say, I'm going to come and get you. Just wait till I get off of this cross. No, he committed himself, it says, to him who judges righteously. He said, I'm in God's hand and God's going to take care of it. And so he just trusted God with that situation. We're sojourners, remember? We're camping. You ever been camping? You ever been on a trip with people? And you know how it is when you're in close quarters with other people. And you can't wait to get back and have your own rooms. You can't wait to get back and have your space. You can't wait to be out of that situation because, well, people in close quarters, we just naturally tend to hurt and offend and rub each other the wrong way. We make mistakes. We use poor judgment. We get in the flesh. None of us are perfect. And so there in close quarters, as you're camping, as you're on the trip, there can be some difficulties and problems. But you put up with it because it's just a short time. You're just there for that season. You're just there for that vacation, that camping trip or whatever it may be. Peter is saying, look, we're just here temporarily. It's just a camping trip. We're just roughing it. Just put up with one another for this season, for this time. Later on, hey, they'll be perfect. They won't have the flesh. You won't have the flesh. That sinful nature will be gone. We'll be in eternity with God. Oh, it's going to be wonderful. But in the meantime, we're not to return that kind of action, that kind of heart. In fact, instead of returning evil for evil, he says... you ought to return a blessing. He says, but on the contrary, blessing. We're to return blessing. When people do evil to us, instead of returning evil, we're to return blessing. So Peter's calling us more to just, you know, okay, I'm not going to say it. I'm going to bite my tongue. I'm not going to respond back that way. He's saying more than just, you know, I'm not going to hit them back the way that they hit me. I'm not going to do to them what they did to me. He's saying more than that, more than just holding back from returning the evil, return instead a blessing. Return blessing. As Jesus said, bless those who curse you. This is what Peter is calling us to. This is what we are called to do as sojourners. If we love people, if we want what's best for them, this will be our behavior. We will bless them and not hurt them. Even when they do evil against us and revile us. Think of it in the terms of a parent and a child. Or perhaps you're watching a kid. You know, the child, children, they get tired. And when they get tired, the sinful nature becomes a little bit more apparent, right? Am I right? Okay, so I guess when we're adults it happens too. But... Still to think about the child. Okay, so the child, he gets tired, he's bratty, he's, you know, crying and throwing a fit and screaming. And when the child does that, is that how you respond? You cry and throw a fit and scream back? Do you respond in kind? You know what he needs. He needs to be, well, put down for a nap. And so you put him down for a nap and he's fighting and biting your finger and, you know, kicking you and Is that what you do back? You return in kind? You kick them back, get to bed. No, you don't respond in kind. You put them to bed. You do what's best for them. I'm hoping, okay? I'm talking about what we ought to be doing. Anyways, you know what they need. You do what's best for them. That's what my parents did for me most of the time. And so you give that to them. They're hungry and so they're screaming and they're crying and they're throwing a fit and so you're trying to feed them but they're throwing a fit so it's hard to feed them and you're trying to feed them and they're kicking and screaming and punching. You don't do that back. You don't return in kind. What do you do? You bless them. You do what's best for them. Again, this is what Peter is saying. If we love people when they do evil against us, we don't want what's bad for them. We don't want to do evil back to them. We want to bless them. We know that there's a need. We want to meet that need. We want to minister to them. And so we don't return in kind, but instead we return a blessing. He says, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. This is what you were called to when you were called to be a Christian, when God called you to walk with him, to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. This is what you were called to. Did you know that? You were called to love and serve others, even if they're not nice to you, to bless them. Even when they do evil and revile you, to bless them, to love them and to serve them. This is what we are called to. And you say, I didn't sign up for this. Yes, you did. That's what we were called to. It's our calling in Christ. It's the example that Christ left us in order to follow. And it has a blessed reward. He says that you may inherit a blessing. As we're obedient to our calling, to what God has called us and given to us as a command, there is a blessing in store for those who are obedient. And so he said, you're called to this. This is what God wants for you. This is what's best for you, that you may inherit the blessing that God has in store for you. Now, for the past couple of weeks, as we've been looking at these things, some of these things are hard for us to understand. Well, to really come to grips with in our mind. And they're hard to compute. And we, I'm sure, question and doubt and say, is that really what it says? Or is this just one verse? Is this just one passage? And do I really have to return a blessing when someone curses me? I understand that our flesh despises that. And so to help fight against and prevent our flesh from being able to argue us out of what God has told us, turn with me please for a moment to Colossians chapter 3. We'll just look briefly at this passage like we've done in the past couple of weeks just to verify, to validate this. to save ourselves the argument with ourselves later, so that we can understand this indeed is what God has said. It is His instruction to us. And if we are going to be His followers and live as sojourners, this is what it's going to take. Colossians 3, look at verse 12-14. It says, Therefore... Now here we have Paul sharing in Colossians chapter 3 and it's similar to what Peter has shared, some of those characteristics that we're to have towards one another. Then he goes on in verse 13, he says, What does that mean? That means putting up with each other. Again, we're going along the same lines as what Peter is saying. And forgiving one another, he says, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. So Paul tells us the same thing here in Colossians chapter 3. This is the command to us as Christians. We... are to be good to one another and to be tenderhearted and compassionate and to love one another. It's the bond of perfection. And when we have those who rub us the wrong way and treat us bad and do evil or revile against us, we're to bear with one another. And if we have a complaint against anyone, just as Christ forgave us, we are to forgive them. This will be a bright shining witness as we live the life of a sojourner. Traveling here temporarily, looking forward to our eternal destination, it will be a powerful testimony to the world around us. Our love for one another. Jesus said in John 13, 35, that the world will know that we're his disciples by our love for one another. Sometimes as Christians, we look just like every other gathering that exists in the world. But that's not how we're to look. That's not how we're to be. We're to put on these characteristics to be sojourners for Jesus Christ. So number one this morning, we are to love other Christians. Hard to do, but we're capable of it by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Second thing this morning, Peter goes on to say, do good even if it hurts. Look at verses 10 through 12. He says, We're back in 1 Peter 3. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Here Peter is quoting from Psalm 34 verses 12 through 16. And through this Psalm, Peter is saying, we are to do good. This is what's best for us. He says, look, He who would love life and see good days. And he's going to give us the key here. If you want to love life and see good days, here's what you need to do. Now, if I were to ask, who here wants to have a really wonderful life? I think everybody would agree, okay, yes, I want to have a wonderful life. If everybody, if I were to ask, who wants to have a really great and awesome life? Everybody says, yeah, I want to enjoy life. That's going to be awesome. That would be wonderful. And so Peter says, well, that's great. You want to do that? Here's the key. Here's what you need to do if you want to enjoy life and have a blessed life. He says, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. So you want to enjoy life? You want to have a great life? Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth. Hold back. Refrain. It gives the implication here. Automatically what's going to come forth from your mouth is evil and deceit. And so you've got to hold back those things. You want to really enjoy life and have a good life? Watch your mouth. Now we dealt with the tongue in detail in James chapter 3. So you can refer back to there for a little bit more detail on the tongue and the dangers that it has. James tells us that the tongue is a fire. It's a world of iniquity. It's a great danger. It's also a valuable tool, but we need to watch our mouth. We need to refrain our tongues from evil and keep our lips from speaking deceit. Well, the second thing he goes on to say, you want to really have a great life? You want to love life and see good days? Then he says, well, do good. There in verse 11, he says, let him turn away from evil and do good. So, you want to have a great life? Stop doing evil. Stop doing what's wrong. And start doing what's good. Now, to turn away from evil, kind of by nature, by implication, it means that you're turned towards evil. That's our natural bent. That's our sinful nature. We're turned towards evil. We naturally gravitate towards wrong behavior, to what God has called sin. And so we are to turn from it. It's called repentance. We're to turn around. from evil and were to do good. Are you seeking someone's harm? Do you wish ill upon anyone? Are you doing something that's wrong? Just a few examples. Stop going that way and go towards what is good. Turn away from evil and turn towards what is good. You're wishing someone ill, you know, I wish they would just drop dead. That's not the path to a blessed life. That's not the key to, you know, okay, I wish they were dead or then I'll really enjoy it. No, that's not the way to love life and see good days. It's to turn from evil and to do good. And then the third thing he says is to seek peace and pursue it. Seek peace and pursue it. You really want to enjoy life? You want to see good days? You want to love life? You want to be full of life? Seek peace. Pursue it. Trying to get even will not... give you a vibrant life. Trying to get revenge won't give you the life that you desire. Stirring up strife or arguments, that doesn't lead to a blessed life. Peter, as he's quoting this, he's saying, look, we need to pursue peace. You want to love life? You want to have a really great life? Pursue peace. Do good and watch your mouth. He says, because The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. And so as you do these things, God's with you. He's for you. He's part of it. But he says that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So if you're fighting against God, essentially what he's saying is you're never going to be happy and you're not going to have the life that you want to live. You're never going to be satisfied or fulfilled. You won't have a wonderful life if you're fighting against God. But if you will come into agreement with God, and let your life, the decisions you make and the path that you follow be in line with what God has instructed and shared what is best for you. If you will agree with God, you will experience a wonderful life. You'll have a full life. Just as Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I've come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. The more abundant life comes as we bring ourselves into agreement with God. And what He has instructed us in how we're to live. Now, in looking at these things, it definitely is easier and more immediately satisfying to live contrary to these things. To speak evil or to do something evil, to return, to get revenge, to cause arguments and division. It might be easier, it will be easier than doing what's good and watching your mouth and pursuing peace. It might be more immediately satisfying. Yeah, you might get a little bit of pleasure for a second, that great comeback that you came up with and the way you cut that person down or the way that you gave them back what they deserved and put them back in their place or whatever the case may be. But it's not the way to obtain a blessed life. If you want to really love life, if you want to see good days, Peter says, do good. Even when it hurts though, he goes on to say, look at verse 13. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. And so Peter now asks the question, who's going to harm you? So if you do this, if you follow the instruction there in Psalm 34, and you do what's good, and you watch your mouth, and you're following these things, you're pursuing peace, who is going to harm you? Who's going to come against you if that's the case? Who's going to come against you and be upset with you or try to inflict evil upon you because you watch your mouth carefully and you don't let out things that are not good and that are not wholesome and not edifying? Who's going to come against you? Now, in general, I think we would say, okay, yeah, no one will harm you. And yet, we find there to be a contrary reality that even when we do good... Well, there's those who come against us. And why is that? We can consider Jesus. I mean, He did good, right? He did all those things. He didn't let evil and reviling come out of His mouth. He pursued peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He did what was good. He didn't do anything that was evil. And yet, there were those who sought to harm Him. And why is that? It's because of the spiritual battle that rages. Who is the one that will harm you if you become followers of what is good, Peter asks. You know who will harm you? Those who are opposed to the things of God. Oftentimes, those who are the strongest opposition to goodness and righteousness are the ones that God is speaking to the most. And so this is something to consider. Who is he who will harm you? As you're seeking to be a sojourner and you're wanting to walk in this way as God has called us to walk, Consider and understand that there is a spiritual battle. And nobody, if everything was normal and there was no spiritual battle, nobody would fight against you for doing good. So why is there this opposition? Why are those who seek to harm you as you're pursuing peace and doing what's good and not speaking evil? It's because there's a spiritual battle that's going on. There's a war that's taking place. And God is using you right there in the midst of it to speak good. to minister, to be a witness, to testify of Him. Well, he goes on to say, even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you're blessed. So he says, look, nobody's going to hurt you if you do what's good. But even if you do suffer for doing what's good, and you do follow this, and you suffer, he says, hey, if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you're blessed. So even if you do what's right and you're punished for it, Understand that you're still blessed. I know we can get frustrated. Man, I'm doing what's right and I'm doing my best and I'm following these things that God has said and still there's this opposition and these people hate me. They come in against me. He says, look, if you suffer for righteousness sake, you're blessed. Now, he's going to deal a little bit later. Hey, if you suffer because, you know, you're a bozo and you, you know, do all kinds of things wrong and you offend people and you, you know, come against her. Well, that's a whole different kind of suffering. But because you're doing righteousness, because you're being a sojourner, you're following God, you're walking with him and people are coming against you. Hey, if you suffer, you're blessed. And so he says, and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled. It's a quotation from Isaiah chapter 8 verse 12. And so what he's saying is, look, you can suffer for righteousness and still be blessed, so you don't need to be afraid. They can say whatever they want, and they can threaten all they want, and they can try and attempt to do whatever they want, but you're in God's hands. There in that passage as God is speaking to Isaiah, he says, look, don't call conspiracy what everybody calls conspiracy. Don't be freaked out about all the theories and all the things that may happen or could happen. Understand you're in God's hands. He's got you. And even if you suffer, you're still blessed if it's for righteousness. So do good even if it hurts, even when it brings suffering, even when it's difficult. He says, don't be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. Look to the person next to you for just a moment and tell them clearly, boldly, nothing bad happens to Christians. Why is everybody laughing? Nothing bad happens to Christians. Do you believe this? Nothing bad happens to Christians. Even if you suffer, you're blessed. Romans 8.28, a scripture we hold on to and quote very often, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. There is nothing bad that happens to Christians. Even when there's opposition, even when they seek harm, even when they do evil against us, there's nothing bad because God works it together for good. He uses it for good. He uses it for His glory. As we enter into eternity, after we've lived this long life as sojourners or this short life as sojourners, we look back, there's nothing that will point out and say, God, that was bad. Can't believe you did that. You shouldn't have done that. No. No. Everything God uses for good, for His glory. We'll be grateful and thankful for how He worked and what He did in our lives. And so we don't need to be afraid of their threats or be troubled. We don't need to be freaked out because nothing bad happens to Christians. All things work together for good. We may not see it and we're not going to understand it and that's where our problem lies. We want to understand how it's going to work out for good. But we just need to trust God. We're in His hands. He works all things together for good. So, number one, we're to love other Christians. Number two, we're to do good even if it hurts. And finally, number three, we're to be ready to give a defense. Look at verse 15. He says, So here we are. We're called to live as sojourners. We're here temporarily. We are looking towards eternity. And Peter says, in this temporary time, in this season, as we're roughing it out here in the wilderness, we need to be ready to give a defense. He says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Sanctify means to set apart. In our hearts, we are to set apart the Lord God. Now there's Lord's lowercase l, that can be in our lives. A Lord is anything that you serve. It's your master. It's who you're submitted to. Now, it needs to be Jesus Christ, but you can surrender yourself and submit to other masters. He says, sanctify the Lord. Set up the Lord God, the Lord God. Set up Jesus Christ as your Lord, as your master. A God is anything that you worship. It's the master passion of your life. Set up Jesus Christ as your master and your passion. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. It's saying, I don't really care what the world says, and I don't care what my flesh says. Jesus, I'm surrendered to you, and I'm going to love you and obey you. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Set Him apart. He's the one that we're living for. He's the one that we're focused on. He's the one that we're walking with. And as we do this, he says, always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. Now, we've been talking about sojourners. The whole point of being a sojourner is being a witness. It's being a testimony to the world around us. And here we have an opportunity to not just be a witness by the way that we conduct ourselves, but to express what we believe and why. And how do we get this opportunity? How is this door of opportunity opened? Notice what he says. It's to everyone who asks you for a reason, the reason of the hope that is in you. The door is opened by people asking. See, the idea is Peter saying, look, when you live your life in such a way, it's going to be unique. It's going to stand out. People are going to say, what's wrong with you? We need to always be ready to give a defense, to share, to answer that question. Here's what I believe. Here's why I believe what I believe. Here's the reason of the hope that I have. Now, Peter says to always be ready. So when are we to be ready? Always. We're here temporarily as sojourners. While we're here, the purpose is to be a light to the world around us. It's not that, and sometimes we think this way. We have these different sections of our life, and so in the workplace I'm this way, and over here with my family I'm this way, and then I'm here at church and I'm involved, I've got to go serve in the children's ministry, so I turn on the ministry switch, and now I'm ministering, but the rest of the time I'm different. No, we're to live our lives and we're to always be ready To give a defense, to answer the question, "Hey, how come you have this hope? How come you're different? What is it about you? Why is it that you live your life the way that you live?" Now, it's hard to always be ready to answer that if you've not been conducting yourself honorably, right? So as we conduct ourselves honorably, it opens the door, it gives us an opportunity to share. If we don't conduct ourselves honorably, well, that door will probably not be opened. Although sometimes we try to force it. There you are in the restaurant. Someone's waiting on your table. The food you get is not what you ordered. Your drink hasn't been refilled in hours. You're miserable. You're suffering. And you still love and bless the person who's waiting on your table. And they say, what in the world is wrong with you? I just treated you terribly. Now, of course, they don't say this, but trust that God is working this out in their hearts. They were nice to me and they treated me. What's wrong with this person? You may have an opportunity to answer that question. Now, if you just chewed him out and yelled and then talked to their boss, well, you probably won't have the opportunity to go back and give him a check and say, hey, Jesus loves you. I'm glad you got in trouble, but Jesus loves you. Someone cuts in front of you in line and you say, oh, please, go ahead. They say, what's wrong with you? Oh, let me tell you about Jesus. No, hope I haven't. Hey, I'm just here temporarily and if you're in line in front of me, that's okay. I want to be in heaven soon. And then they'll be quiet and they'll probably go behind you. But, But if you chew them out and then try to tell them about the Lord, well, that's probably going to be a closed door. You're not going to have that open door. Your co-workers, you know, they're listening to you and they can hear the client on the phone just shouting at you through the phone and you're responding calmly, you're loving them, you're doing what's best for them, you're caring for them, you're meeting their needs. Your co-worker says, what's wrong with you? Why would you let him treat you like that? Why would you let him talk to you that way? Why would you let that happen? Let me tell you about the hope that I have. The reason why I conduct myself this way. Let me tell you about what I found in Jesus Christ. But if you... Responding, kind, retaliate. You tell the customer off and then slam down the phone and then try to tell your co-worker about how great the love of God is. There's going to be a closed door. So what Peter is saying here is that, hey, we need to be ready to give a defense because we've lived our lives this way. We've created an opportunity for people to ask and say, hey, there's something different. This isn't natural. This isn't normal. You live your life in such a way and you respond in such a way that's different than the rest of the world. And so we need to always be ready then to answer that question because we've been living our lives this way. He says, always be ready to give a defense. Now, A defense doesn't mean that it's an attack, you know, like, hey, why can't you live this way and you're an idiot and that kind of stuff. No, a defense here is simply a reasoned statement or argument. It's something that's reasonable, that's sound. It's not that, well, we just believe because that's what we believe and we don't really know why we believe it, but that's what we believe and that's what I want to tell you about. That's not what Peter's talking about. No, there's reasonableness to our faith. Faith is not irrational. It really is not. Now you can't come to all the conclusions by logic. God leaves just enough out that we have to take it by faith. But it's not without reason. It's not irrational. There's reasons for why we believe what we believe and why we do what we do. And sometimes it's just as simple as our testimony. You know, like the blind man? When he is called to give an answer, he was called to make a defense. He said, I once was blind, but now I see. That's what I know. That's what he knew. That was appropriate for him. That was his defense. This is why I believe in Jesus. I once was blind, but now I see. It's reasonable. It's rational. It was his defense. He says, always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you. Hope is a confident expectation. We're confidently expecting eternity. It's not a maybe or, you know, in the way that we use it today, but it's confidence. It's expected. We are going to spend eternity with God because we believe in Jesus Christ. And it causes us to live our lives as sojourners because we know we're just here temporarily. And it creates for us an opportunity, an open door for us to give an answer, to give a defense to those who ask, hey, how come you live so different? What is it about you? Well, he tells us to be ready to give a defense, and he closes the verse there, with meekness and fear. Now, it's possible to give a great defense, but do it in such a way that nobody wants to come to know Jesus, because you beat up and badger the person that you're sharing with. No, he's calling us with humility, with reverence, sharing what God has done for us, sharing what God has done in our lives, going back to the beginning, with compassion, with tenderheartedness. with love, sharing with meekness and fear. He says in verse 16, having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. This is right along with what Peter's been talking about from the very beginning. It's our good conduct. They come against us. They revile us. They talk bad about our conduct and what we do, but he says they're going to be ashamed. Because you lived with a good conscience. You were obedient to God. You walked as a sojourner. And when they stand before Christ, they'll be ashamed. They're going to glorify God, but they're going to be ashamed because God was speaking to them through you by the way that you lived your life. Finishing it up in verse 17, he says, For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. It's better if it's the will of God. It's hard for us to understand, but sometimes... It is the will of God for there to be suffering in our lives. But it's better if it's the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. There's a blessing. There's a reward. There's a purpose. God works all things together for good. And so we can trust Him and know that we're in His hands. Because this is just temporary. And so whatever happens to us in this life is just for this temporary life. And it doesn't affect our eternity. Well, actually, it affects our eternity for good. And so again, nothing bad happens to Christians. And so as sojourners, Peter says, we're to love other Christians. We're to do good even if it hurts. And we're to be ready to give a defense, to answer reasonably why we have this confident expectation of eternity. And this morning we get to partake of communion together. And as we consider that thought, the ushers can prepare and the worship team, you guys can come on up. As we can consider that thought, to be ready always to give an answer for the reason that there's this hope within us. It's a perfectly appropriate time to partake of communion together because this is the reason for the hope that we have. It's what Christ did for us upon the cross. And He gave us the institution of communion. He instituted communion that we might remember what He did for us. He gave us the bread or the cracker and He said, look, this represents my body being broken for you. He gave us the cup and He says, this represents my blood being shed for you. This is why we are able to be saved because He took the penalty for our sin upon the cross. He received the judgment that was due us. We have the opportunity of salvation. We have the opportunity of standing before God without fear of judgment. We have the hope of eternity because of what He accomplished for us upon the cross. And so as we have the opportunity to partake of communion, let's consider, let's remember as He commanded us, this is the reason for the hope that we have. This is the reason that we live the way that we do because of what Christ has done for us. Not only that, but we're told in the Scripture that we are given communion to do regularly, frequently, and as often as we do it, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So not only do we remember what He has accomplished for us, but we look forward to His return. This is what sojourning is all about. We're living our lives in such a way because of what we know is ahead. Because of what Christ has done for us upon the cross. If you're here this morning, you've never received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, or you need to get right with God, I invite you to partake of communion with us. Believe in Jesus Christ. It's as simple as receiving the finished work of Christ upon the cross. It's by faith saying, yes, I believe Jesus died on the cross for me, for my sin, that I might have right standing with God and I want to follow Him. And if that's you, I invite you, as they pass out the communion elements, partake with us. And in doing so, put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and allow Him to forgive you, to cleanse you, and redeem you from this world. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.