Sunday, September 23, 2007

"Blessed Insults" Sermon: I Peter 4:12-19

"Blessed Insults"
[I Peter 4:12-19]
September 23, 2007 Second Reformed Church

Have you ever been insulted for being a Christian? Have you ever been told how naive you are for believing the Bible? I have a friend who says she can't believe that such a well-educated person believes this nonsense.

If you have been insulted for being a Christian, have you felt blessed after such a conversation? Have you felt the need to praise God after someone has dressed you down for believing in Jesus? Peter says we should.

In this morning's Scripture reading, Peter ties together the good news of the end coming soon -- that we looked at last week -- and the fact of suffering as a Christian, at the hands of Nero and his armies, and in other ways.

Let us note that Peter begins this section of the Scripture calling his readers, "beloved." Peter loved his fellow Christians. A pastor ought to love his flock. And we ought to love each other.

Peter says we ought not to be surprised if we suffer for the Name of Christ. We ought not to be shocked, scandalized, overwhelmed by the fact that non-Christians insult and ridicule the Christian faith. We ought not even be surprised that, in some countries, Christians are put to death for their faith, even today.

Remember what Jesus said, "'If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you'" (John 15:18-19). The promise of Jesus is if we love Him and follow Him, we will be hated.

No, we should not be surprised; we should expect insults, suffering, even death. And we should prepare ourselves for it. We ought not to throw a sheet over our heads and plug our ears and wait for the end to come. No, Paul wrote, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm" (Ephesians 6:10-13). Then Paul goes on to explain what it means to put on the whole armor of God -- he explains how we prepare ourselves for this battle that continues until Christ’s Return.

Shall we suffer as Christians? We ought to expect it. We ought to prepare for it. We ought to know what to say and how to act, because, if the day has not yet come for you, it will. My friend, Scott Petersen, late pastor of Fairfield Reformed, told me of a time when he was defending the Bible as the Word of God on the floor of the Delaware-Raritan Classis, and another minister jumped up and screamed at him that he was a Nazi. The Pope called Martin Luther a "drunken German" who would come to his senses when he sobered up, and when Luther didn't change his preaching, he was excommunicated.

For four thousand years, humanity had waited for God to send the Messiah -- the Savior, and when Jesus came, the vast majority denied and rejected Him. They killed Him, and then they set out to slaughter His followers. And Peter told them, and he tells us, we are blessed, and should rejoice. Why?

If we suffer for the Name of Christ, it is a blessing:

It is a blessing because it proves we belong to Christ. We could not and would not suffer for Him if we did not truly believe. If we are suffering for Christ, it is a proof that God the Holy Spirit lives in us and is making us more like Christ and leading us in His Ways. So, our suffering for Him is a blessing as it gives us assurance that we are truly His.

It is a blessing because it shows that the Gospel, the Good News of Salvation in Jesus Alone, is being proclaimed by us. We are making the Word of God known -- even if that Word is rejected -- it is a blessing that we have been enabled to speak and live out the Gospel.

It is a blessing because it shows we are being sanctified -- we are becoming holy. God uses these trials as a means to perfect us. As we have seen in previous weeks, it is only through the melting down and the burning off of the dross that gold and silver are purified and made holy. So God uses the sin of His enemies as part of the means to purify us.

Likewise, if we suffer for the Name of Christ, we should rejoice in Him:

And let us understand that if we suffer, we rejoice in Jesus and Who He is and what He has done. We ought not to rejoice in the fact that we are suffering, or that our loved ones are suffering, or that anyone is suffering for that matter. We are not called to enjoy suffering.

No, if we suffer for Him, we ought to rejoice because we know that Christ has already suffered for us, and He suffered so much more than we could ever have suffered, and He suffered as a completely holy and perfect human being, unlike us, who suffer, at best, mottled with sin.

Still, we ought to rejoice because, in our suffering, Christ's Glory is being made known. As we speak and are insulted and rebuked and hunted down, those who reject the Gospel get to hear the Good News again and again. They get to see more of Jesus through our words and actions. And Jesus gets the glory.

We ought to rejoice, as well, because we know that this suffering is not forever: we have the sure promise of Jesus that the day will come when "He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4). And Paul also reminds us that he "consider[ed] that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). No matter what we endure as Christians, the life which is to come is exponentially better in every way -- more than we could possibly imagine. That is our hope and Jesus' Promise.

So, if we suffer for the Name of Christ -- and we all shall, someday, in some way -- we are blessed, and such suffering should lead us to rejoice in Christ. But let us not forget, that we are to be ready, to prepare ourselves, according to the Word, that we might endure the fight and the trial when it comes our way.

However, if we suffer for our sin, there is no blessing, no glory in that. If we suffer for committing murder, that does not honor the Name of Christ. If we suffer for stealing, that does not honor the Name of Christ. If we suffer for any kind of evil-doing, that does not honor the Name of Christ. If we sin by sticking our noses in other people's business when it is not wanted, that does not honor Christ. If we suffer for sin, we ought to confess our sin, repent and turn to Christ.

Peter tells us that we ought to also understand that God's Judgment begins with the Church. Judgment begins with the House of God. That is, God lovingly chastises Christians, now, first, before the judgement of the wicked in order that He might change us. And, we should expect that chastisement to increase, not just continue, as we near the end of all things.

The commentator, John Rogers, puts it this way, "Whatsoever troubles befal us in this life, either afflictions from the hand of God, for chastisement or perfection from the world, for our tryal, &c. that they come not to us by chance, or the will of the Devil or man without God, but by the determinate purpose and counsel of God" (611).

The judgement is for our benefit and to the Glory of God, but what of the judgment that comes after for those who do not obey the Gospel -- those who, in fact, have rejected Jesus and His Gospel. What is to become of them?

Peter quotes Solomon, "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?"

What is he saying?

First, let us understand that the righteous are not those who are righteous by their own works -- because there is no such person except Jesus! The righteous are those who are seen as righteous through Jesus crediting us with His Holy and Perfect Life. We are seen as righteous, because when God looks at us He sees the Work of Jesus that has been applied to our accounts.

Second, when Solomon and Peter say that the righteous are "scarcely" saved, he is not saying that there are few who are saved, nor is he saying that Jesus' Salvation is a weak salvation. What he is saying is that the Salvation of Jesus is the Only Salvation -- there is no other way.

So, we could say, "If those who are seen as righteous are only seen as righteous because of Jesus' Salvation and His applying it to their accounts, what hope is there for those who reject the Gospel -- for those who deny Jesus and refuse His Salvation?"

Jesus describes their end like this, "'The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth'" (Matthew 13 41-42). For them, there is no end to the suffering. How much more grateful ought we to be that we are saved by God’s Grace Alone from that end?

Can we suffer for the Name of Christ? Can we learn to understand it as a blessing and to rejoice in Jesus when such trials come?

Peter says, "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will" -- let us understand that whatever occurs to us occurs to us by the Sovereign Hand and Permission of our Loving Father. Nothing can ever happen that He has not included in His Plan, and He loves us -- so much that He suffered and died for us.

"Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator" -- God is faithful and trustworthy, so much so that we are better trusting ourselves to Him than to ourselves. If we are left to our own devices, we will end up in Hell. But the God Who loves us and created us calls us to trust Him now, to recognize that every part of our being is in His Hands, and that is the best possible place it could ever be. As Christians, we are safe -- eternally safe -- in the Hands of our Living God.

"Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."

Even if Nero's armies bear down on us, even if we are arrested and tried and tortured for the faith -- for the Name of Jesus -- let us recognize how blessed we are to be the people of God, those of His Own Redemption. And let us direct all praise and glory to Him, knowing that He is trustworthy above all others, and we are being brought into His Glory by His Fatherly Hand. And then, let us do good. In the Name of Jesus Christ, for the Sake of Jesus Christ, for the Sake of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, let us strive always and everywhere, to be about doing what is good in the eyes of God.

And let us keep our hearts and minds trained on our Glorious Savior, so when we are hurt and tired and don't think we can go on, we will see Him right before us, and we will remember what He endured and what He has given to us, and we will see what a small thing it is that He calls us to do. So, let us go forth in the Name and the Power of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we have been foolish and bought the world's notion that if You are God, our lives must be roses and sunshine. Thank you for the witness of Peter and the early Church. We ask that you would help us to be prepared for the trials and the suffering we shall endure for Your Name’s Sake. Teach us to understand it as blessing and cause us to rejoice in You for Your Sake. May we be focused on You and Your Glory, doing good in Your Name, as the things of this world, even our trials and suffering, "become strangely dim," as we trust in You and Your Loving Salvation. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.

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