Serving, Suffering and Faith (Part B)

You say, how do I know my faith is genuine? I struggle with these things.

It's 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. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Peter.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his continuing study called Serving, Suffering, and Faith in 1 Peter chapter 4. Jesus Christ, you've got no chance at agape love towards others. Don't go saying I love the Lord, I just hate people. These believers were in a world that hated them.

Why would you want to go to a church where they hate you too, or you're hating on them? So towards each other there must be love. I won't read the many Bible verses, especially in 1 John, that deal with this because you know them, or you know of them. And we have time constraints. How am I going to get the 19 verses?

I'm only 15 minutes into this. For love will cover a multitude of sins in a multitude of ways. But we don't give it a chance, do we? There are times that I have shown love and I have said to myself, I am doing it. Look at me.

I can't believe I'm riding this beast. But that does no guarantee that the next time, with the same person or someone else, that the love is going to be there. Better fight for it. It's doable, I could say that. I could say this, I would like to say this. Characterizing my Christian walk, I have sought to love everyone. Of course people think loving them means doing it their way, and that's not the meaning. Proverbs 10, hatred stirs up strife. Yeah man, it does. But love covers all sins, profound in Christ.

The greatest attribute of God is the same love that is to be worked out in our lives. Verse 9, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Have you ever called someone on the phone and they're just, what?

Kind of an inhospitable, small, hello? Oh man, I called it the wrong time. Sorry, I was calling the house of a Christian. Hang up on them. Now sometimes, yesterday I got a call, I thought it was a telemarketer.

It was a return call. And so I was a little bit on edge, and I felt a little conviction. Not a lot because I didn't go overboard with it, but my tone was not the usual loving tone that I always have. And you all know that.

Stop before I make you tell fibs. Anyway, be hospitable, the word there. Phylosenos in the Greek, it means literally love strangers. Of course we understand what is meant here. You can make jokes about that, but seriously speaking, it doesn't take much to be nice. It really doesn't.

It takes more energy to be a grumpy Christian. Verse 10, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold graces of God. The manifold graces, R.T. Robinson, one of the long gone Greek scholars said that word manifold is multicolored.

And if you've ever worked I guess around certain equipment, you have things on manifold, there are many ports, and it's a motley kind of a thing. And so here we are with the manifold graces. God, there are so many parts and colors and shapes and tones to God's grace that are supposed to show up in our lives. Gifts are supposed to be used, not saved. I'm saving myself for the big moment.

Then you're wasting yourself. Those of you who step forward and serve, you understand this. And those of you who don't step forward and serve, well, we're not chastening you, but keep that before the Lord.

Don't be too comfortable with that. Second Timothy, Paul, I love that Second Timothy letter. Anyway, chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says to Timothy, therefore I remind you, stir up the gift of God which is in you. Stir it up, Timothy. He wasn't saying to Timothy, you're not doing it. He was just adding to it.

He said keep it moving. The word minister here, diakonos, means to run errands for someone, an errand boy. That's what we are. We ministers, not just pastors, we Christians as ministers. All Christians are to fall under the title of diakonos, the errand runner. We're off as servants.

We're told go there, we go. Remember Philip. Philip, God is just moving Philip around to Azotus, to the desert where the Ethiopian was.

He was a minister of the gospel. Verse 11, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. So he sort of has this poetic outburst. It's as though he has a flashback to those days and Capernaum and Galilee, the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem and all the places he was with Jesus. If anyone speaks, as he kind of even sees there, let him speak to the oracles of God, what God gives him. If anyone ministers, he goes on and then he says, that in all things God may be glorified. He's building up through Jesus Christ. He loves to say that name to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. So it's electric and it is, of course, an outburst of his own faith. They would have picked up on that having it read to them in the congregation. So if we're going to speak the word of God, let's remember it's his word. One of the difficult things about preparing to preach from a pulpit is, God, what do you want to say?

It doesn't take much to read a commentary to come up and repeat what you've read. That's not preaching. You want to emerge from your time with the Lord something to say.

And that is from him. And I hope the people of God come to church so they can hear something from God from the man he has ordained, is appointed to that position. When Moses came down from the mountain, he had something to say and the people were often not ready and they should have been. If we're going to serve the people of God, we have to remember whose people they are and why it is we're serving. Those of you who serve, why? Why do you do it?

It should be an easy answer. I love the Lord. I serve him.

And many of us are very, very grateful for this. So what is the objective? The objective of the Christian life. What's the target? What are we in this for?

What is our motivation? Jesus Christ, the will of God to honor him. That's what verse 11 tells us. If you're going to speak, speak as though God has spoken to you.

If you want to minister, do so in the ability that God blesses you, what he has imparted to you, believing that God is in touch with his people. Verse 12, you can stay on verse 11 a long time, it's getting heated up there. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing is happening to you. Spoken like a man who gets it. Spoken like a man who understands the Christian life. That when Jesus said in the world, you're going to have a lot of tribulation, be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world. I don't know about you, but I've wrestled with joy in the Christian life. Because there's just so many things in this world that do not stir up joy. It takes joy from you.

It robs joy. So what I've noticed, okay, joy is not easy because we're in a cursed world, it's not God's will, but what is God's will is that we press through. We overcome. So my conclusion for myself is this, I'm not giving up. Because joy is such an elusive place in the mind and heart of the believer, I'm not giving up.

I'm going to go at it. It was so much easier in the early days of Christianity, but as the years have gone by and things have piled up, you know, it becomes when you're young and you face these things, okay, you're facing the dragon. But when you're like, okay, I'm facing him again and again and again.

And when I face him, it doesn't mean that I just take out my sword and slay him. I'm going to take hits and they're going to hurt and they're going to stick with me. I'll have flashbacks of them, unpleasant things. Well, how am I going to have grace in the midst of these things? I've got to stay clear and keep it clear in my head that this is the will of God. That in the world you will have much tribulation and after this world you will have none.

For now, it's on. And so what are you going to do, Christian man? What are you going to do, Christian woman? Child of Christ, what are you going to do in this life?

I am going to give it my best to comply with every single thing I'm told in Scripture by my Lord. And so here he is in a world where people were living against the Christians. Suffering as a Christian is not abnormal.

It is expected. People that aren't Christian suffer. The difference is supposed to be that ours counts in eternity. Stephen and Paul, they suffered. They didn't think it was strange. Stephen, when they were stoning him and he set them off at the end, which of the prophets did you not kill? He's just like, Stephen, you might not want to say that.

But he was not in the appeasing mood when he gave that last sermon. And when they started throwing the rocks, he said, what was that for? I can't believe you're doing this. See, that's why your boneheads. No, he didn't do that.

He never saw the rocks as they were crashing into him. He saw the throne of God and he asked God would forgive. You read these things and when it stops being a story and it starts being God speaking to you, you read these things, you say, I want that and I don't have it.

And God says, it'll be there when you need it, if you truly want it. As we sing songs, we come to church on Sunday, we have our routine, which is good. We sing songs. Maybe it's helpful to remember that many of the saints faced the burning stake by singing songs. Christ, how did he face the cross? They went out of the upper room and they crossed the brook Kidron and they were singing hymns. You see, joy is something that the Christian has to take in the fight for it. The other stuff is happiness. And I don't like being inconvenienced.

Who likes bumper to bumper traffic when you've had five cups of coffee? So, Stephen, Paul, they didn't think it strange, this wave of persecution on the believers, which lasted, as I mentioned, probably historians believe, about four years from the burning of Rome until the death of Nero. And a year into it, it's believed, both Peter and Paul were executed by the Roman Caesars. And then after Nero died, they had a relatively cool time until Domitian came along, the one who imprisoned John and set him on the Isle of Patmos.

He was not as bad as Nero, but he was a killer nonetheless, a murderer. He says, as though some strange thing happened to you, you know, we always say, why me? Because you're in this cursed world.

I mean, am I singled out? Listen, he just encouraged them to have love. He will encourage them to not murder and steal. In other words, he knew they had faults. However, that's not why they were suffering. They weren't suffering because, you know, they were busybodies and poked their nose and just did things people do.

They were suffering for their 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 or read 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, honor.

It went like this. How come you don't come to the festivals anymore? How come I never see you at the temple offering up, 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, no, 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.

It's 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 it?

I 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.

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. Now most of you know, the historians tell us that Peter was crucified upside down, that he lingered for three days in that state, that his wife was crucified next to him. I cannot substantiate that nearly.

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

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 for 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 want to 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 want to 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 want to 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 want to hear what I have to say about Jesus Christ. If they don't want to hear about anything else from me, they want to 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 a 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 intervened, ah, you know, better leave these guys alone. Some of this stuff might be from God or not.

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 5, 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 jailkeeper. 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.

A 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 is blasphemed. On your part, he is 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 5, 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, but 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. 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 would be good for you to do it. We must each one meet Jesus in this life. We are going to be with him in the next. 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.