When Holiness Meets Hostility

Eventually, because you are the light of the world, and you shine your light into a dark world, there's going to be some problems.

Jesus put it this way, men loved their darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And Paul made to Timothy a very, very important promise. He said, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall what? What will they suffer? Persecution. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Eventually, persecution is inevitable. Many Christians like to claim the promises of God that offer strength and protection.

But not many want to claim the promise that will suffer for serving Jesus. Today on Connect with Skip Hyten, Skip shares some hopeful truths you can cling to when you experience persecution. But first, Skip wants to share about another great way you can hear these uplifting teachings. Now real quick, I want to invite you to follow my podcast so you can get even more inspiring teachings. Just search Skip Heitzig, that's Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to follow the podcast so you know when a new teaching is available. Thanks, Skip.

Now, we're in 1 Peter chapter 3 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. So there was a pastor who was building something in his backyard. He was building a wooden trellis.

And there's a trellis for a flowering vine to crawl up. So he's out there with his hammer and nails and he noticed there's a neighbor boy watching in his yard. He had come in to watch him build this trellis and he didn't know why he was there.

He was uninvited. But he figured, you know, he would keep working and the little boy would go away eventually. Well, the more he kept working, the boy just kept staring at him and wouldn't go away. Finally, the preacher put his hammer down and he said, So, are you just trying to get some tips on gardening? And the little boy said, Nope. I'm waiting to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer.

What does a preacher say when he hits his thumb with a hammer? It's a good question. Now that brings up a point and that is the world is always watching us. The mic is always on.

The camera is always rolling. People are trying to find out what we're really all about. Sometimes when I go to public places around here, I can feel the eyes on me. People would recognize and go, Oh, that's that preacher guy. And I know I can see it because I see him looking and they'll whisper to each other.

So what the deal is, is that, OK, I know he can preach, but how does he practice at a restaurant in public? And that's Peter's whole theme. Peter is saying you are being watched in your response to the government. You are being watched in your response to your boss. You are being watched in your response to your husband and your wife. So because you are being watched, be tender hearted, loving, be compassionate, be non retaliatory.

All those attributes we talked about last week, because usually, normally that's acceptable. Those are traits and attributes even the world will accept. But what about when they don't? What about when your holiness meets their hostility? Your goodness meets their grievances?

What happens when you do good and you're sweet and kind? But they marginalize you or even slander you? What do you do then? What do you do when God haters decide that just because you believe in God, you should experience some pain because of it?

Then what do you do? Back in 1999, you may remember the story of a man by the name of Graham. That was his first name. His last name was Staines. Graham Staines and his two boys, an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old, were killed in India by militant Hindus. They were burned to death. The story is that they were ministering at a camp and Graham Staines was teaching at this camp out in the jungle. In the middle of the night, around midnight actually, these militant Hindus came into the camp and disrupted things and set on fire the jeep where Graham Staines was staying with his two children, spending the night for the next morning. They were burned to death.

When the fire cooled, the charred body of Graham Staines was shown with his arms clutching his two boys. Reason? Why did that happen? One simple reason. They were Christians.

That's all. They were there, they were doing good, they were loving the people, they were pouring their lives into them, but they were Christians and they suffered because of it. So in our text, our chapter, 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 13, Peter offers two possibilities. Number one, you do good and you're not hassled. You do good and they leave you alone, unharmed. Second possibility, you do good and you are harmed. Let's look at it, 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. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Five verses, four truths, four things you can expect when holiness meets hostility.

And here's the first. Normally, goodness is profitable. Normally, usually, typically, doing good is a good thing and it's profitable.

It'll work out for you. That's his thought in verse 13. But, you know, with every text there's a context. So I just need you to see how thoughts connect.

Do you mind? Just look back at verse 10. Look what he says. For he who would love life and see good days, I would raise my hand on that one. I want that. If he wants that, then let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. You want to see good, do good. And then in verse 13, the question. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? Now that is a rhetorical question, meaning the question is asked, there's an implied answer that everybody knows.

So let me restate it for you. Here's Peter writing to his audience and saying, if you live the way I just described, if you are loving and humble and you are non-retaliatory and you are tender hearted, you are all those things, who's going to bother you? Who's going to bother you if you live like that?

Implied answer, nobody. You're going to get by unscathed. Normally you will never suffer if you're a person who does good to other people and you are after benefiting others around you. Even the greatest opponents of the gospel are not going to hinder people helping other people.

They're going to leave you alone. That's what the question means. Who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? Now let me insert something here because it brings up something I think is a crucial point to be noted. The history of Christianity is in part at least the history of societies around the world being benefited by the goodness done in them by Christian believers who live in them. Example, the whole concept of the value of life, the whole concept of human rights is a biblical concept. Those are values that emerge from those with a Christian worldview because we believe all men and women were created in the image of God. Women's rights, where did it come from? Not Gloria Steinem, not the Women's Liberation Movement or the different fronts or break-offs, it came from the Bible. Because when Paul and Peter and Jesus spoke 2,000 years ago, the culture around them did not respect women at all. In fact, in some cases, I have seen letters from a Greek soldier written to his wife 2,000 years ago who said, if you have a little boy, keep it.

If it's a girl, throw it away. A girl was owned by her father until she was passed off to her husband, then she became the property of her husband. In that culture came the Bible that said there's neither male nor female, we are all one in Christ. That's a Christian worldview. Compassion for the sick, compassion for the poor, they come from Christians. The first hospitals were erected by Christians. The Red Cross was originally a Christian organization, the Salvation Army, a Christian organization. Cultures where missionaries infiltrate, it has been shown over and over again that literacy goes up, they're more educated, they're more advanced, they're more compassionate. The force behind eradicating slavery in England years ago was by a Christian statesman. Child labor laws were enacted by Christian men and women. And then even in our own country in the early 1800s when a French statesman by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville came to America, one thing that startled him is how many volunteers were helping people around them and these were volunteers from organizations, associations that had been founded and were currently being run by Christians.

He saw the impact in culture by Christianity. So who's going to bother you if you live that way? Normally? Typically?

Usually? Nobody. I think it's pretty safe to predict that probably most of you, if not all of you, will never be killed in this country in your lifetime because you believe in Jesus. That's probably not going to happen. You're probably not going to get beat up because you just simply say, I love Jesus.

Probably not going to happen. And if you are a good person and you follow these things that Peter outlined, that we described last week, that's just a good way to live. I mean, it's going to keep you out of jail. It's going to bring peace with your neighbors, not going to get hassled because you are seeking good.

You are doing good. So who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? That's the first expectation. Normally, goodness is profitable, but there's a second that follows quickly on the heels of that is eventually persecution is inevitable. Eventually, persecution is inevitable. Verse 14. But, and the old King James says, but and even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. And then quoting Isaiah Chapter eight and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, etc.

So here's the deal. Goodness is good. Righteousness is right. But being good and righteous will not make you immune from trouble. Eventually, because you are the light of the world and you shine your light into a dark world.

There's going to be some problems. Jesus put it this way, men love their darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And Paul made to Timothy a very, very important promise. He said, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall what? What will they suffer? Persecution. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Eventually, persecution is inevitable.

So here's the deal. The world will tolerate you, but not for long. Eventually, at some point, at some level, the world will persecute you.

Why is that? Well, I've used this illustration on a number of times, but it's like if people are in a dark room and their pupils are dilated, they're accustomed to the darkness and you open the blinds and let the sunlight in or you turn on a bright overhead. They're not happy to see you. They just want you gone from their presence.

Turn off that light. It hurts them. And so it is with the gospel. So it is with those who do good. Did you know the Bible says Jesus went about doing good?

Just think about that statement. Jesus Christ went about doing good. He healed sick people. That's good. He raised dead people. That's good. His families were really happy.

Those are good things. But eventually, the hostile world around him, what did they do to him? They killed him.

They wanted to extinguish the light. So here's the principle. Persecution is the result of obedience.

Or I'll put it in a more memorable way. Great persecution is the result of the Great Commission. You preach the gospel. Not everybody's going to like it.

Because everybody doesn't like it, there's going to be persecution at some level. Because you see, somewhere down the line, you're going to be telling the world why you're so sweet and why you're so compassionate and why you're so loving and why you volunteer for things and help the sick. They're going to ask you why. And when they say, hey, why do you do that?

You're not going to stand there and go, I don't know. You're going to say, I do that because I love Jesus Christ, who is my Savior and died to set you free. When they hear that message, the fireworks begin. When they hear that message, the sparks will fly and the anger will be developed. Jesus said these words in John 15. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. And they hated me without a cause.

A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So even when Christians are kind and wonderful and helpful and magnanimous, they still represent the gospel that is narrow and exclusive. Because our gospel says that only those who trust in Jesus Christ will enjoy heaven forever and those who reject Jesus Christ will be forever lost. You think that's a popular message?

No way! I got an email from someone, I'm smiling when I say that, who claimed to be a Christian and said these words to me. I don't understand why every religion thinks they have God's special attention. It appears to me that Christians are no better than Muslims.

I pondered over that little email and I thought, well you know, I got to say, I agree with them. Christians aren't any better than anyone else. But we are better off than everyone else. And we have a better message than anyone else.

Because our message says no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter where you live, you can be set free from your sin and you can spend forever in heaven with God guaranteed. There's no better message than that. So listen, here's the deal. And I say this sincerely, if there were 485 different ways to get to God, I would stand up here and preach all 485 ways. But the book that I read and that you read and you say you believe in, says there's one way.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life, nobody comes to the Father except through me. And when you say that, and that is so narrow and so exclusive, this is going to happen. But notice, you got to notice this, there's a qualifying phrase. Notice it doesn't say, but even if you should suffer, it doesn't say that. It says if you should suffer for what? Righteousness sake.

Ah, it's a whole different category now. If you suffer for righteousness sake, or as it says in verse 17, suffer for doing good. You see, Jesus never said blessed are the persecuted.

He said blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. It's no great blessing to get beat up. It's no great blessing for people to yell at you.

You don't walk home after being hassled and go, what a great day. Everybody yelled at me and I got beat up. You're just a weirdo if you think that way. It's like the cannibal who was staring at the missionary and made the missionary really queasy and uneasy. And he said to the cannibal, why are you looking so intently at me? And the cannibal grinned and said, I'm the food inspector. There's no blessing in being eaten.

It all depends what you're being eaten for. Is it for righteousness sake? Because you see, you can invite persecution on yourself by being an obnoxious person. I was going out of Pope Joy Hall one night, it's the performing arts center here. I was going out after a play and the whole crowd was going out. There was some guy standing on a wall, I think he had a Bible in his hands, raised up. And he was yelling at us, yelling angrily, his furrowed brow and he was telling us the good news. You're all going to hell.

I'm thinking, so what's the bad news? And I was watching people as they were watching him. I was looking at the looks on their faces. Nobody had the look on their face like, this is interesting and compelling. Tell me more. They were like, get away from the bad man quickly, quickly, quickly.

It was a complete turn off to them. Jesus said, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. I don't know why some Christians think they need to be as wise as doves and harmless as a snake. I believe the Lord is looking for sharpshooters, not grenade launchers. Somebody who's going to be very careful and aim very specifically when they speak to unbelievers truth.

Rather than just throwing it out there and seeing what happens. But even if you do, you do good and you share truth and you might suffer for righteousness sake. Notice it says you are blessed. It means honored. God is honoring you to be in a position where you're experiencing what Jesus experienced. You're honored, you're blessed. And he quotes Isaiah 8 which says, and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled.

Let me just give you a quick little background on that. In Isaiah chapter 8, King Ahaz of Judah felt threatened because the king of the north in Israel had a coalition with the king of Syria. And they both threatened to come down and pounce on him. And he's getting all bent out of shape and nervous. And so Isaiah the prophet comes to him and says, don't worry about it. Don't be alarmed. Don't be frightened. The Lord's going to take care of this. Don't be troubled by their threats.

So Peter's lifting that up and applying that here. You are blessed if that happens. It might not happen. It probably won't happen.

But if it does happen, you're blessed. We had a guy on staff several years ago. He was a part-timer and he was walking home after work here to his home which was nearby. And over his ears he had a set of headphones. I mean they covered his ears. Now the headphones weren't plugged into a listening device. He didn't have one. He was just using, get this, the headphones to keep his ears warm.

I don't know. He found an old pair of headphones. He had them on.

He's walking home. All three guys see him thinking that he's listening to some listening device like an iPod. And they go up and they demand that he turn over to them his listening device. He goes, I don't have one.

It's not plugged into anything. Just to keep my ears warm. But he saw this as a divine opportunity. He said, do you guys know Jesus Christ? He looked at him like he was living on the moon. And the ringleader said, don't tell us about that stuff. And then he said, I have a gun.

Colby said, okay whatever. He kept talking to him about the Lord. And the guy said, I'm not afraid to use this gun. And our staff member said, okay I just want you to know I'm not afraid to die for Jesus Christ if it comes to that.

And by the way, why are you so afraid whenever I mention the name Jesus Christ? Those three guys beat him up. And broke his jaw.

And it had to be surgically wired for it to function again. But he got up from being beat up. And he went home singing.

He didn't even have anything to listen to, right? He's just singing. Rejoicing. That he is blessed, honored. That he was persecuted, not for weirdness sake, not for obnoxiousness sake, but for righteousness sake. He felt honored by God.

That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series Rock Song. Now we want to share about a special resource that will spark a deeper passion in you to live for Jesus. You know Proverbs 31, the go-to passage that describes the ideal Christian woman and life. But let's be honest, that ideal can be as intimidating as it is inspiring. Here's Skip Heitzig with more. Can I just tell you it's exhausting to just read that, let alone how on earth women could you ever do that?

Well let me say first of all, you can't do that in a day. He's not giving the 24 hour description of the virtuous wife. This is a woman over time. Get to know some of the most incredible women in the Bible and in history with two inspiring resources. A six message CD collection from Pastor Skip on prominent women in scripture. Plus the book Seven Women by best selling author Eric Metaxas. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Heitzig. Charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Call now to request these captivating resources as our thanks for your generous gift.

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800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig encourages you with an eye opening message on the purpose and power of suffering. Now I'm not going to suggest that God's truth is going to make you immune from problems and pain. But I am going to suggest to you that God's truth can prevent the bullets of doubt as to the purpose and the reason. If there's any doubt in your mind, can there be anything good behind this at all? Peter would say God's truth can stop those bullets of doubt. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.