We Are Called To Witness – 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The Bible tells how slaves are expected to relate to their masters. In the culture of the first century, vast numbers of people were slaves. Still, we can draw valuable principles from today's teaching in 1 Peter on how to respond to authority.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, as you conclude your teaching from 1 Peter today, help us understand what the Bible says about slavery. Well Dave, as you well know, there are many people who turn against the scripture because it does not outrightly condemn slavery. But we have to understand that in the early centuries there was no place for the slaves to go.

As a matter of fact, they did not have the opportunity of having other jobs or finding themselves in a different vocation. But isn't it interesting that the apostle Paul says specifically to masters, he said, you had better take good care of your slaves because you have a master in heaven who is going to judge you. And in other parts of the New Testament, what we discover is there are teachings that would indeed speak against slavery, certainly slavery as we know it. And today we honor people like Wilberforce who work to end slavery in Britain and we know something about our own history and we are so thankful that here in America we have come a long way from the days of slavery.

We may not be yet where we should be, but we're thankful for the progress that has been made. Now this ends the series of messages entitled Living as God's Community. That's why we are making these sermons available to you in permanent form. Perhaps you've heard some of them, but not all of them, or you know people who would benefit from this series. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. The title of the series, Living as God's Community. And then he talks about submission in another area. It says, verse 18, servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. Really the word servants is slaves, for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it and endure, this is gracious, a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Feeling uncomfortable yet? Some people who read this say that the Bible is very socially repressive because obviously it is teaching approval of slavery. So I need to comment on this. Slavery in those days was not at all what it is today when we think of slavery. Slavery in those days was not a class thing.

It was not a matter at all of a race. Slaves didn't dress differently. I think I read one time that there were 50 million slaves in the Roman Empire and slavery was really the whole fabric of society. And the slaves often were not mistreated. They could buy their way out of slavery, so you weren't necessarily a slave for life. And furthermore, also important, slaves sometimes even own property. In fact, the distinction between the slave and the slave owner in those days was almost something like today we may think of employer and employee. We're not talking about the slavery of the 17th and 18th centuries and 19th centuries here in America. What happened in Britain and America during the slave trade was thoroughly irredeemably evil. And of course, you know that it was Christians. It was Christians such as Wilberforce who stood against that even though he received a lot of pressure because there was a lot of money in the slave trade. And wherever you have money, you have the continuation of abuse. And so the effects of that evil, of course, oftentimes the repercussions are still evident in our country today thinking about the evil that was done. So we're not talking about that. When it comes to brutality, the Bible is very, very clear that God hates brutality.

It is listed as a sin in Romans chapter one and elsewhere, the ruthlessness of the way in which we treat people. Now Peter doesn't stop to condemn slavery. He doesn't say, well, now what you need is an uprising. No, because this was just a part of their whole structure of society.

There was no way. What would the slaves do if they had an uprising? And so what he's saying is be a good slave. But when you are using the word in his context, when you are be mindful of God. Now that's an important phrase. You'll notice it there in the middle of verse 19.

For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures. And in a moment, we'll find out what that means to be mindful of God. So he says, make sure that if you are punished, it's for something bad that you do. And if you are punished after doing good and you are mindful of God, he says, boy, this is very special to God. Paul says the same thing in the book of Ephesians.

If your employer mistreats you and you respond properly, God watches and it's very special to him. Now follow along. First of all, we're to submit to those who have authority politically. We're to submit in our workplace to those who have authority over us. And then if this isn't enough, if you still aren't uncomfortable, notice what it says in chapter three, verse one. After speaking about Jesus, about whom I shall speak in a moment, likewise wives be submissive to your own husbands so that even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. So there it is. We read this today and we say, donde esta la exceptions.

It's dangerous, isn't it, to know a few words in another language. We say, where in the world are the exceptions? I need an exception to this because Peter's not giving me the exceptions. Pastor, tell me where the exceptions are.

Well, hear me carefully. There are exceptions, but if you hurry to the exceptions, you'll miss Peter's point that I am going to bring out from the text directly. So don't hurry to the exceptions. Yes, there are exceptions. Of course, we don't always obey the political rulers.

Peter himself who wrote this book said in the book of Acts, we have to obey God rather than men. There are times when we indeed, whenever we can, should seek justice in the workplace. And in America, we have those opportunities that were not granted to other cultures.

Of course, we should always better ourselves. We should especially be willing to put ourselves out for others in terms of seeking their justice as well as our own. And yes, there are times when within the marriage relationship where you've heard me say many times from this pulpit, if there is abuse in the relationship, then don't walk, but run, especially if there are children, run for help.

So there are exceptions and there may even be at times divorce might become a necessity. And so we recognize that, but if you hurry to these exceptions, you miss the point of what it is like to live for Jesus Christ and to show forth his glory and his excellencies, believe it or not. Now, your Bibles are open. Everyone has a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you talk to one of our counselors here and they'll get you one because you must open it to the text. You'll notice what it says here is, but if when you do good and suffer for it, this now is verse 20. If when you do good of chapter two, if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God for to this, are your Bibles open? How many of you have a Bible that's open? Can I see you? All right.

I won't ask how many don't. To this you have been called. What do you mean? What's the this? The this is you do good and suffer for it. To that you have been called. You say, well, I like the other calling. I like the calling out of darkness into his marvelous light. I like the calling that says that we are called to community, but this calling we've been called to suffer.

Well, I don't like this. One of our staff members when I was talking about our vision statement, Moody Church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ. Simply ask this question in a staff meeting. What does it mean to live passionately for Jesus Christ? It's an excellent question.

And in the next five to six minutes, I'm going to answer it. The bottom line is this to live passionately for Jesus Christ means to live like Jesus lived. That's the way we live passionately for Jesus Christ. We live as he lived.

So if we can find out how he lived, we find an answer to the question. First thing that I want to point out is that the suffering that's referred to here in the text, the suffering that is referred to is not cancer, even though that also is a form of suffering that God uses. It is not health issues.

It is not even economic issues. It is a form of suffering that is even deeper and harder to accept. And that is relational suffering.

It's the kind of suffering when the boss gets all the money, he has favorites and you are being taken advantage of and you are not being paid and you are being mistreated and you have a good sense of knowing that it's happening and you endure patiently. Now, how would Jesus handle it? I'm so glad that you asked.

It's always good to ask questions. Now, what does it mean then to live like Jesus? If that's the answer to what it means for Moody church, when we say we need to live passionately for Jesus, there's more to the story than I'm going to tell you today, but this is part of the story. You'll notice, first of all, that what we should do is to act as Jesus acted.

Notice what it says. You are called to this verse 21 because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. That's the answer to the question of how do we live, that we might follow in his steps and how did he act? He committed no sin, neither was any deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Lesson number one, we want to live passionately for Jesus Christ when we are mistreated and when we are sinned against, we do not turn around and sin back.

When David had spears thrown at him by Saul, David didn't take his own spear and say, Saul, watch this and throw it back. Vengeance belongs to me. I will recompense, says the Lord. And that means that when we are reviled, we don't revile in return. You know that old bumper sticker, I don't get mad. I just get even. That is a sinful bumper sticker.

Get a better one than that for your car. How do we handle it? When sinned against, we do not sin back. Not insult for insult, injury for injury. You do this to me, I'll do this to you. So first of all, we act like Jesus and now it becomes even more difficult perhaps.

Number two, we also believe like Jesus. This is so critical. How do we, how do we answer the question of the need for justice? You've heard me say this before, but it needs to be said here. The woman who says, you know, my husband divorced me, went to Florida, has a good job, hasn't connected with our children, doesn't give me child support.

I have to work two jobs to bring up the kids at the same time. And you're asking me to not be bitter about it, to give it over to God. Where is justice?

An excellent question. We all long for justice. It's part of our DNA.

It's part of our God likeness. Jesus longed for justice. Did he get it?

Not yet. You'll notice what Jesus did. The Bible says he kept committing himself onto him who judges righteously. Jesus said, I'm not surrendering justice.

It's just that I've removed myself from the picture as the one to administrate it. But I trust God to bring justice to this situation. And therefore I don't need to retaliate. I don't need to pray, Oh God, I pray that you might vaporize them. God, I pray that you might give him the lesson that he needs to learn, bring him into judgment quickly. Now there may be a time when we pray those kinds of prayers, but at the end of the day, what we do is we so believe in God's justice that we don't always have to administer our own. And so we're free because vengeance does belong to God and not to us.

You say, Oh, this is a really tough news. I know, but do you ask the question of what it means to live passionately like Jesus? And I'm simply saying it means to live like Jesus. And I'm doing nothing but reading the text. There's some of you who ought to get alone with God, take an hour, take an afternoon, whatever it is, and spill out your heart and commit your bitterness and your anger and your desire for revenge to God. I've had to do that. I've had to do that. And I can tell you from experience, it's not easy to do because I'm not Jesus.

And I suppose that you aren't either. It may have even been difficult for him, but you see it is in that, you know, we always say, well, how do we live passionately for Jesus? I wish that there was another message in this series. When I talk about witnessing for Jesus, that'll come up at some point because obviously we need to speak about Jesus too. But ultimately today I'm emphasizing the way in which we live is to be recognized that we are called to suffer relational pain. We're called to do that tomorrow morning.

It'll begin even as it ended Friday evening, right? Are you ready for that? Now what we'll do is we will act like Jesus. We will believe like Jesus and we will sacrifice like Jesus. Notice what the text says, he himself, verse 24 bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds.

You have been healed. Now, let me say this, that Jesus died for us. And that's the ultimate, the ultimate way for us to live like Jesus. We can't die for other people's sins, obviously. So this doesn't apply to us in every regard, but it applies this way, our sacrifice for others.

You want to find out how do we live passionately for Jesus Christ? We're willing to be inconvenienced. We are willing to stretch ourselves to find that abused child. Rebecca's sister called to say that in her neighborhood there in Oklahoma, a woman, I think she's a single mother died of an overdose of drugs and left two or three little girls.

That just stuck in my mind for hours. Who's going to care for these little girls with their dead mother? I hope that Rebecca's sister and others who are somehow involved will become God's hands, God's feet, God's love, God's grace, and show forth the excellencies of Christ no matter how much it may cost individually, no matter how much of a sacrifice it is, because after all we want to know what it is to live passionately for Jesus Christ. And the text tells us that Jesus died for us. And so we go and we support ministries that rescue children. We support the Moody church, which helps over in India.

There are other ministries such as by the hand club for kids. And it's not just children, it is others to whom we are willing to give ourselves, because we say, I want to live passionately for Jesus. We live with a relational pain, confident that in the end, God will bring justice to every situation so that throughout all of eternity, we will sing just and true of thy ways, thou King of saints who shall glorify thy name.

We're absolutely confident that we can live this way. Moody church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ beyond the walls of this church in our communities. And that's why he put you in the bank and that's why he put you in a hospital. And that's why you are a student today at the university that you happen to belong to.

Why? Because God put you there and said right there in the midst of the challenge and the pain. I want you to show forth the excellencies of God. In a moment here at the Moody church, we're going to remember our Lord's death. We're going to take the cup that reminds us of his blood and we're going to take the bread that reminds us of his body that was broken.

Could you today, in addition to worshiping Jesus, when you do that, could you pray also a prayer and say, Jesus, as you sacrificed for me, for whom can I also be a sacrifice? The Bible says you live that way. You're well pleasing to God. That's what it means to live passionately for Jesus. You live as he did.

And if you've never trusted Christ as savior, did you look at the text? He bore our sins. You say, well, how do I know that he bore mine? You will know that he bore yours if you in faith receive him today as savior and say, Jesus, I want you to be my sin bearer. And he forgives sin. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and makes us his children.

And then you become a part of a community that we have been talking about. Don't leave here and don't turn off your computer unless you have come to trust Christ right where you are. Pray to him even as we pray here. Would you join me, please, as we prepare our hearts? Father, help us to understand that part of our calling is to suffer relational pain. For all those today, father who are heavy, who bring in their hearts as one woman explained it to me, a stone of bitterness and anger and numbness today, father, show them their need to so committed to you to believe that you are just. And in that confidence to react like Jesus, we are weak.

We need your help to do this. But we pray that this church may be a community called by God to represent you well in every strata of society. In Jesus' name, amen.

Certainly my friend, the church should be the place where there is a sense of unity, where there is reconciliation among the races and where we have the opportunity to demonstrate to others what it is like for each member to be valued within the body of Christ. Perhaps you've heard some of these messages but missed some of them. We're making this series available for you because this is the last time that we're going to make this offer.

For a gift of any amount, you can receive these messages in permanent form. Remember the title, Living as God's Community. And here's the info that you need. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'm going to be giving you that contact info again, but I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry.

You've heard me say it before, but because of people just like you, Running to Win is now in 50 different countries in seven different languages. Thank you so much for becoming a part of the Running to Win family. Here is what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is all one word.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember the series of messages that you can have in permanent form, Living as God's Community, becoming a part of something that is greater than any one of us individually, becoming a part of the body of Christ as a witness to the world. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 714. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Ever fly into an uncontrolled rage? Anger is one response when someone wrongs you. Some conflict is unavoidable. How we respond to it is the key. Next time on Running to Win, don't miss a series on what to do when you've been wrong. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.