Serving, Suffering and Faith (Part C)

You know, as you serve a lot, the risk of becoming confused or clouded in some of your thoughts is there.

You have to fight through them. So it is something that I am committed to. I ask God, Lord, I want to go out like a minister that has been filled with the Spirit.

I need to be firm, and I don't want to be hard where I need to be loving and kind. For more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick continues in the book of 1 Peter chapter 4 and his message called, Serving, Suffering, and Faith. Satan loves to answer this question, why am I suffering? Satan loves to come along and say, because you.

And next he just fills in the blanks. Maybe you struggle with something and you've been struggling with it forever, or maybe it's a new thing. And Satan will come along, and he will say, you know, you're the different one, you're the oddball.

Nobody else has got this problem, just you. Trying to single you out so he can execute you. This is why you're suffering. Remember what you did, Revelation 12, your choice. You believe Satan or you believe Scripture. Here's Scripture. The accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night.

He's relentless, constantly accusing us. And it is the blood of Jesus Christ that blows those accusations out the door. So the persecution was not because of personal sin, it was because they came to Christ to be forgiven from sin. That's why they were suffering.

All they had to do was start, you know, honoring. It went like this, how come you don't come to the festivals anymore? How come I never see you at the temple offering out, you know, incense up to our beloved Caesar? You say, well, those ancient Romans, what do you think was going on in Nazi Germany? You don't like Dafura?

No, Dafura is inferior. All right. Anyway, if you were in Nazi Germany and you say, nah, you know what, I'm not a member of the party. You had problems. And so it is with, it was with these Christians here. You say, how do I know my faith is genuine? I struggle with these things.

This is a very simple test. Do you hate sin because of Jesus Christ? I mean, your flesh loves some of the sins we want to do, but do you hate that I'm like that? Not because I lose power or self-control, but because it is against what my Savior wants me to do.

If that is you, then that's the blood of Christ in you. The unbeliever cannot do that. The unbeliever can say I hate my addiction because it has stolen my life from me. The believer, under the same trial, can say the same thing but adds or puts first because it's not honor to my Lord.

And this is the life we face and Christ has given us enough things to arrive at these powerful conclusions. In the end, I want to say that you will not be forgiven. When you are not forgiven, you will not be forgiven. But you will not be forgiven.

And I want to say this. In the end, I want to say that you will not be forgiven. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

no one else can either. But I don't have a hard time believing that, not for a moment. Knowing the character of Peter, you applaud just the idea.

Can someone, will someone ever say that about me? Will they be able to say, no, I know the character of that man, and while there are many things and shortcomings that belong with him, that's not one of them. Dying like a Christian, that is consistent with the life of that Christian. That's the epitaph to go for. He died like a Christian. So rather, now when he says here in verse 13, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. The Christ's sufferings he's talking about here is not the cross of Christ, that is exclusive to Jesus, or his dying for sinners. He's talking about the life of Jesus Christ in the face of opposition and trial and temptation. Paul put it this way.

We read this last week, it's worth reading this week, the next week, the one after, we probably won't do that. But Paul's quest in life was that I may know him, power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death. I tell you, as a new Christian, that was so powerful, these words, like yes, that's where I wanna be.

For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. But you know, as you serve a lot, the risk of becoming confused or clouded in some of your thoughts is there. You have to fight through them. So it is something that I am committed to. I ask God, Lord, I wanna go out like a minister that has been filled with the Spirit.

I do not want to become soft where I need to be firm. And I don't wanna be hard where I need to be loving and kind, and as I grow older, I am not trusting my past victories. I'm looking for fresh victories, fresh experiences in Christ, so that if I live to be older, there will be those that will seek me out, that they wanna hear what I have to say about Jesus Christ. If they don't wanna hear about anything else from me, they wanna hear about Jesus Christ. What is wrong with that ambition?

I don't think anything is wrong. The joy of rightly being related to the Father in the midst of hardship, of standing up to those who hate the truth with love and truth nonetheless. And so, where persecution is the result of relationship to Jesus Christ, where we are being persecuted because we follow Christ, there's no shame to that. But there's rejoicing, that's what Peter is saying. He says, here in verse 13, that when his glory is revealed, that means when we see the Christ, you may also be glad with exceeding joy because he says, well done.

We stand face to face. This joy in persecution, we read about it in the book of Acts. They took the apostles aside. We want you to stop preaching the gospel. They said no.

They beat them. Gamaliel intervenes, ah, you know, better leave these guys alone. Some of this stuff might be from God or not.

Let's just, if it's God, you know, you can't fight it. And so they let them go after they beat them. And we pick it up in Acts chapter five. It says, so they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. That's why the book of Acts is so exciting. It's just this movement of the Holy Spirit that appeals to every born again believer when we're faced with it. If I could just get past my own pity parties.

I mean, sometimes I can dress up pretty nice for my parties. Beat us and you make us partakers of Christ's suffering. What an attitude. Mock us and you make us like Jesus Christ, like Paul the apostle. You know what the educated said about Paul?

Let's see what this seed picker has to say. Luke intercepted it. He says, all they did was stand around quoting what other people said about what other people said. Luke was on to them. Paul and Silas put in prison, converted the jail keeper. That's Christianity in action.

From jail he writes the Ephesian letter, the Philippian letter, the Colossian letter, a letter to Philemon. Put us in jail and we were right about Jesus Christ exposing Satan's work in men. Turn us loose and we'll turn things right side up given the chance to preach.

Acts chapter 17 in Thessalonica, this is what they said about Paul and Silas. These two have turned the world upside down, have come here too. Oh, now the Christians are here.

I heard about them over there. Oh, here they are now. Kill us and you promote us to glory.

You make us like John the Baptist, James the apostle, Stephen, Peter, Paul, Antipas. This is how to face persecution. What if it comes here full blown? I mean, this is kid stuff what we're facing now.

Bunch of people walking around missing a color from the rainbow on their flag. I mean, we're supposed to just be firm in what we do. We're still supposed to love and preach the truth and regardless of what they throw at us, that's God's department. Verse 14, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. On their part, he's blasphemed. On your part, he's glorified.

Very, very logical. Insulted, taunted and harassed for Jesus, all right. Don't expect Christ to stop it.

He endured it and you must too. For bearing the name of Christ, for believing in him, for preaching Jesus Christ in the gospel. Matthew chapter five, Jesus said, blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you. Falsely, for my sake, rejoice, be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Great is your reward in heaven. Okay, if I could just remember that. If I can remember that there's more life after this life. If I could just not get so in touch with this life, this is all I know by sight, but I know a lot more by faith. And so we walk by faith, not by sight, because the Bible tells us the just shall live by faith. Faith means you've been exposed to enough information to make a sensible decision.

It does not mean you just do what the other guy did because he tells you that it'd be good for you to do it. We must, each one, meet Jesus in this life if we are going to be with him in the next. What about the unborn? Oh, come on, they'll be in heaven.

That's what I say. That's what the scriptures say. David said, I will not go to him. By the way, pardon me, he shall not come to me. I will go to him. I'll see that child again.

There are other areas, but that's enough for now because time constraints again. But in eternity, I can preach to you forever. Just wait and see. Verse 15, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Well, you know, I don't know what Peter was thinking, but I know how I would perceive this in writing it.

It's, you know, as you write your thoughts down, you develop a style. And he's, okay, he says to his audience, don't suffer like you're murderers. And we say, well, I'm not a murderer.

I won't go into the, you know, calling your brother Rocca and all that. Well, just take it, I don't go around shooting people. I'm not a thief. I'm not an evildoer.

Busybody, hmm, am I a busybody? Do I criticize other people? It's not just poking my nose in other people's business, though that's the Greek word.

It goes deeper than that, criticizing them after you've stuck your nose in their business. We're not to suffer for violating moral laws. We're not to be lawless. We are to be those under grace.

How we behave should matter. Ask Samson. Samson, does it matter what you did with your faith?

Does it matter what you did with your life? They gouged his eyes out. Why? Well, we know why, but I mean, that's in the Bible.

When you read it against one of those stories, once you read it, you never forget the gore. Who, what Christian's been around if you had a test, what happened to Samson's eyeballs? Who would fail that test? Everybody knows.

They squished him out. So behavior matters. The thief, the Greek word, there's kleptes, from where we get our word kleptomaniac. Of course, we've expanded the meaning. It simply means to steal by fraud or deceit, as opposed to maybe a robber who steals by a gun or punch in the nose or something like that.

Busy bodies, the Greek word is metaller, already commented. He's quoting, actually, he's getting this part, Proverbs 20, 19, he who goes around as a tail bearer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips. Because he couldn't tell about you if you associate with him, that's why. Verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. Of course, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. As Paul wrote to the Romans, the gospel of salvation, for everyone who believes.

I'm not ashamed of it, but I'm going to, I prefer to read, there's quite a few places to go, but I read this one one of the Wednesdays ago, and I like it a lot. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain, but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. He wasn't embarrassed that I was in jail, nor was he afraid to be associated with me and himself put in jail because of his association. But he worked hard to find me in that jail system in that big city of Rome, and he did find me.

I pray God bless that man, bless his house. That's what Paul did about the whole thing. It went deep into Paul's life to someone that would love him like that.

And he was not ashamed. Verse 17, for the time has come for judgment to begin in the house of God, and if it begins with us first what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? Well, the image of judgment with God's people first, that comes right out of the Old Testament. It's in Ezekiel, it's in Jeremiah, Amos chapter three. God says to the people, you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore, I will punish you for your sins. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. Peter is saying God's eyes are very much on his people.

But there's more to this than this is not punitive. God's not punishing these Christians for serving him. Judgment in scripture does not always imply condemnation for doing something wrong. It can mean trial put under stress for purposes of God as it was within their case. And so here, the churches were suffering. God was allowing the persecution for his purposes. Remember the church at Smyrna, they were suffering, they were persecuted. The Lord said, hang in there.

I'm gonna bless you after all this. After they kill you, you'll be with me. Remember, you don't die as a believer.

You transition, you wake up in glory. Revelation three, because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. He's talking to the church at Philadelphia at this point. They were spared, but the church of Smyrna, they went through it. Other things outside of Christianity by the Christians cannot be right if the church is wrong. If the church is wrong, I mean, if the salt has lost its savior, what is it good for? The church is supposed to have her act together as best she can, and she can do a good job at this. And the church, when I say the church, it's the assembly of believers, not one person. It's those assembled together.

Not the lone wolf out there, I'm on my own, I do my own thing. That's not the body of Christ, that's an amputation. The goal is to be in the body where the action is. He says, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? If God chastens his own people, if God allows persecution in the lives of his own people, whom he loves, what's gonna happen to those who hate him? This is a very serious note. The church has to work to maintain her integrity.

Housekeeping, house cleaning. The church is the center of God's attention. And to go to church and hear Bible studies and to zilch with it is an affront on the Holy Spirit.

It's an insult, I love that Bible study, why you're living in blatant flagrant sin, what is that? And it's becoming an increased problem, I love that church. They go verse by verse, but do they stick by the things the verses tell us? Well, do they ignore them? Many churches simply ignore them. They don't want the trouble. They don't want the attendance to go down.

So they start looking the other way. And may it not ever happen here. May we always, with love, bring out the rod when necessary.

Bring out the royal rod. I mean, it's no fun to us. We want everything to go smoothly. Oh, it's a great joy to have to tell somebody that you can't have a cup of coffee in the sanctuary during the service. Oh, we just love doing that.

Of course we don't. Fortunately, people have been honoring that. But that's an example of you have to uphold the things that God has given to us and we can do that nicely. Before going out into the world to begin to tell her the gospel, we have to turn the knives on ourselves. Jesus said, get the plank out of your own eye before you go messing with that moat in someone else's eye. In Joshua, before the Jews crossed over into the promised land for war, what did they have to do? Circumcise themselves.

They had to turn the knives on themselves. And the illustration from the New Testament is, you gotta deal with your own covenant. Your own relationship with God according to God's covenant must be addressed.

It's painful, it's necessary. God's not saying you're going to be perfect, but he calls you to pursue perfection nonetheless. And so we move, and then of course what he says, with those that are outside, if it begins in the house of God, what will the end be of those who do not obey the gospel? It will be a judgment without the blood of Christ to forgive them. That's what, it will be horrific. Verse 18, now if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?

He's quoting Proverbs. What's gonna happen if the righteous are truly not righteous and they're on their own strength, but they're saved anyway, only by the blood of Christ? What's gonna happen to those that are not righteous, that aren't interested in it, that stiff-arm God and his plan for salvation?

Shiver at the thought is the idea. It's a critical reminder that salvation is not something we are owed, but it's what everyone needs. Grace gives us no rights. It gives us an immense amount of love and forgiveness and acceptance and a new creation that is finalized in glory when we are glorified. And so as a Christian, any rights I think I have with God are given to me by God. I can never say it is my right. I'm tempted sometimes in prayer, you know, to sneak one in.

To, you promised, and just back down from it. We don't know what God is doing. That's the story of Ruth, when her husband died, when she found herself with nowhere to go but with Naomi, who also lost her husband. What was God doing? Naomi goes back, she's a little bitter.

I went out rich, I've come back poor. Don't call me blessed, because I'm not. And God just kept doing his thing right on, right on, and Naomi began to see it.

I'll tell you what to do, she said to Ruth. Don't you be caught in anybody else's field but that man Boaz. Jesus says that, the Holy Spirit says that to us.

Don't you be caught in any other field of worship than that of Christ and the Godhead. And of course we know the story. She never would have met Boaz.

And all that blossomed out of that. Joseph, I mean his own brothers were gonna kill him. Now some of you have had that experience with your own brothers and sisters maybe. I know my sister wanted to do me in when I was born because I wasn't a girl.

It's a true story. She's a sinner, not me. But it wasn't like with Joseph, and of course what came out of that? He saved all of them. They just don't know what God is doing. The righteous will just, I'll trust him and do it. I mean there are those that they trust generals and go to their death, how much more with Christ?

Verse 19, therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. Well that's the place that Naomi, Ruth and Boaz arrived. That's the place that Joseph arrived. Can you imagine Naomi speaking to her children later? I mean Ruth, let me tell you the story how all this happened.

Somebody told a story, otherwise we wouldn't have the words and the kids had to have been moved by that affair that took place in her life that was so wonderful. And so he says, commit our souls to God. That is going to require resolve in faith, in doing good. We are to be characterized as do-gooders. Why is it an insult to call somebody a do-gooder? What are you, a do-badder? I have poor grammar, but you still look do-badder. As to a faithful creator, well Job of course, he can slay me, I'm gonna trust him nonetheless. I don't know what he's doing, I don't even like him.

But I know him, I know enough of him. And so we trust, we obey. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1 Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. And we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the scriptures, right here on Cross Reference Radio.