Following through Suffering, Part 4

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Christ did the great work on our behalf, clearing the way for us to have a restored relationship with God, our sins forgiven. His suffering brought our healing. Now He calls us to take up His cross and follow Him. 1 Peter 2 21 says, For to this you are called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. Those who follow Christ are called to a life of sacrifice, dying to self, and willing to do what is difficult and costly for the sake of the gospel, just like our Savior. Instead of spending our lives on our own comfort and personal plans, Christ beckons us to invest our time and energy in building His plan. Beautiful things will result in us and around us when we surrender our lives to Christ's call. Today is the final part of the message on 1 Peter 2 21-25 titled Following Through Suffering. It was first preached on October 23, 2022. We have very little knowledge of sacrifice. So let me give you three examples this morning of what it looks like to follow our Shepherd by being willing to do what is difficult and costly.

Number one, be known as a Christian. Does your friend know that you are a follower of Jesus? Are you living out loud? And by living out loud, I don't mean being weird and especially not obnoxious. That's not what living out loud means. It means you're being real.

You are following Christ and you're not living by lies. When you live out loud, you do so graciously, lovingly with a servant's heart. And your friend knows much more about what you are for than what you are against. They know you love. They know you care. They know you are willing to serve. They know you are willing to sacrifice, even if it puts yourself in peril.

That's what we're called to. Secondly, be willing to do what is difficult and costly by speaking truth where lies prevail. Speak truth where lies prevail. Lies are prevailing at a lot of places today.

And that's a whole Sunday night seminar in and of itself. But when you speak truth where lies prevail, do so, as Paul says, do so seasoned with salt. What does it mean by that? What you're communicating is love and respect. You communicate with love and respect. It's not being arrogant. It's not being obnoxious.

It's not being disdainful or judgmental. You speak truth where lies prevail and you do so with love and respect that you may impart grace and hope to the hearers. If we are the people of hope, we should be communicating hope. And you cannot communicate hope with lies. You can only communicate hope with truth. And there will be those who will hate you for speaking truth.

Are you willing to endure that? We're called to that. Thirdly, follow your shepherd by being willing to do what is difficult and costly by investing time and energy to help someone know and follow Jesus. Invest time and energy to help someone know and follow Jesus.

It may mean that you have to be willing to get messy. But this is the mind of Christ. If we could paraphrase Philippians chapter two, who Christ who is equal with God did not consider that something that he had to grasp and hang on to, but he humbled himself and he came in the form of a servant and he became obedient to the point of death. Aren't you glad Christ was willing to get messy? And we're called to follow him. This is the mind of Christ that others are more than another person. Their need to know and follow Christ is more important than my comfortable routines.

It's even more important than my own survival. And we have the great cloud of witnesses and particularly the apostles and Christ himself to thank for that example. It was in the early 19th century. James Calvert and John Hunt were theology students and their studies were interrupted. And they boarded a ship for Fiji in the South Pacific island. It was an island back then that had the reputation of warring tribes and even cannibalism among the tribes and particularly to those who are outsiders. And as they were on the ship, they were getting close and before they made landfall, the captain of the ship came to James Calvert and said, please turn back. You will lose your life in the lives of those with you if you go.

James Calvert's response, you remember, you know what it is? We died before we came. They spent 18 years on the island of Fiji. They had a printing press and they distributed Bibles and preached the gospel for 18 years. And the gospel spread, compelled with the same resolve and commitment. Just a few years ago, Stephen and Emily Foreman took their four kids to a North African country that was predominantly Muslim. And they did not go as missionaries.

Couldn't do that. Country would never let you in, but they were there as humanitarians. But as humanitarians, they lived the gospel out loud.

They distributed copies of the scriptures. And Stephen lost his life to Islamic violence. And they were surrounded by so many in the wake of his death that only then did they see how many lives they had actually touched.

And in 2016, the widow, Emily Foreman, wrote the book entitled We Died Before We Came. You may not be called to cannibals or religious radicals, but hear me now and hear me clear. You are called. Christianity does not make sense to the world.

Most people make plans for their lives and hate anything that interrupts those plans. I want you to put yourself on the Peter meter. Matthew 16, 1 Peter 2. In Matthew chapter 16, Lord, you will not suffer.

I will not let anything bad happen to you. And you remember Jesus' rebuke, the most scathing words that he said to anyone ever on earth were said to Peter. Get behind me, Satan. You're not thinking about the things of God.

You're preoccupied with the things of man. Is that where you are on the Peter meter? Because over here is the Peter who said, my life is yours.

I'm in your hands. The Peter who said, we have been called to suffer, to follow in his steps. The Peter who was crucified for the cause of Christ.

You're somewhere on that Peter meter. May God rescue us from being at Matthew 16. We're not called to that.

We're not called to live for our own safety as if living all of our expected 80, 90 years is the highest virtue of humanity. Beautiful things result in you and around you when you surrender your life to his call because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. Stand with me, please. This has been a difficult sermon to preach. So I'm off the hook now. I've done something difficult.

It's all up to you now. I'm just kidding. Listen, I'm preaching to myself as much as I'm preaching to you this morning. This is God's word. This is our calling. And we need to bring God's word to bear upon our lives.

It's liberating. May we do business with God this morning and may he rescue us from having the mind of Peter in Matthew 16. May we be willing to live as living sacrifices as our reasonable service of worship. Father, work in our hearts. Give us a glimpse of the beauty, the glory, the majesty of Jesus Christ, of the example of his suffering, of the power of his suffering to liberate us. Father, may we acknowledge our calling this morning to do what is good and right and to be willing to suffer for it, to follow you doing what is difficult and costly because you gave us the supreme example of that on the cross. But Father, we also know and we can see that beautiful things result, beautiful things result. And there's a sea of us in here this morning that are the beauty of the result of Christ's suffering. So Father, I ask that you would make beautiful things of our lives. And I ask this in the name of Jesus.

Amen. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.