Anchored #6 - "Grounded in Good Works (2)" - 1 Peter 2:18-25 (audio only)

Redeemer Bible Fellowship iconRedeemer Bible Fellowship

0 views

0 comments

00:01
Well, grace and peace to you from God our Father in Jesus who is his Christ. I'm Kofi Edward, I'm pastor of the Redeemer Bible Fellowship in Medford, Oregon.
00:08
The message you're about to hear is not the message that was preached July 10th at Redeemer Bible Fellowship and our ongoing summer series
00:16
Anchored. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues, I wasn't able to stream that message properly, which meant in turn that the recording was corrupted, which meant, okay, either we don't have the message up on the website, which
00:34
I know for many of you who listen, you listen regularly, or I re -record it in the comfort, in the comfort,
00:40
I can't talk today, in the comfort and safety of my office, which is where this recording is coming to you from.
00:47
Though the content remains the same, some of the illustrations that I use on the fly and, of course, some of the dynamic of speaking to a live audience versus my microphone will make this message sound different, but I trust the content will be the same, and really that's the main thing.
01:04
Thankfully, using the technology that I have, I can also put the slides up that I had, so that helps some as well.
01:11
So hopefully you'll be able to follow along as we make our way through this message.
01:19
With that, I'm gonna pray, ask for the Spirit's help, and then we will get into God's Word, even in this rather unconventional medium.
01:27
Let's pray together. Our gracious God and Father, we thank you so much. Thank you for your goodness and your mercy to us.
01:33
Thank you for every opportunity that you give us, conventional or unconventional, to get into your
01:38
Word. I pray that as we get into this passage and the truth that it has to teach us,
01:44
I pray that your Word would grant us understanding, that light would shine from heaven upon our lives, so that we would glorify and honor you in every area of life.
01:57
We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Well, this is part two of what ended up turning into a three -part sermon series.
02:09
My plan was to go through 1 Peter 2 .11 through to 3 .7 in two messages. Well, as I studied the passage and I looked at it,
02:18
I realized that probably the best thing to do was rather than try and rush through that section, break it up a little more and make it a bit more manageable and at the same time allow us to take our time looking at each of these little sections within the larger group.
02:35
Since the last message happened two weeks ago and I had been out of the pulpit,
02:41
I want to give a little bit of a review of where we are in our study of 1 Peter. Now, remember that Peter is helping us to understand how it is that we live as God's people in a hostile world.
02:53
That's his big concern in this section here. In fact, as one commentator puts it, Since Christians are in this very special way
03:00
God's people, their true home is with him. So in passing through this world, they must show by their conduct and in their relationships that they are citizens of a better country.
03:13
That's, like I said, Peter's thrust in this section. And so to kind of help us march through that, you'll recall that, for those of you who've been watching or listening to the series, that in 1
03:27
Peter, 1 Peter really works like what you can see up on screen. And if you're listening to this, there will be a link in the notes to these actual slides so you can follow along.
03:38
Now, 1 Peter breaks up with an introduction in verses 1 and 2, three main sections to its body, and then a conclusion.
03:46
We're in the second part of the body here in 1 Peter chapter 2.
03:54
And that runs from chapter 2, verse 11, right through chapter 4, verse 6. And really, if you want to sum up this section in one word, it's the word submission.
04:04
Submission, because what we see here is submission that is outward facing, and then submission that is inward facing as we look at the people of God and how we submit to one another.
04:15
And so that's where we've got to in our study of Peter. The last message, for those of you who heard it, or if you haven't heard it, you can go to our
04:25
YouTube channel and listen to it. In the last message, we began to think about this idea of the people of God as pilgrim people, the people of God as pilgrim people.
04:36
And we saw really just two facets of that from Peter's writings.
04:42
First of all, we looked at the posture of pilgrim people, the posture of pilgrim people. Who are pilgrim people in themselves?
04:49
And we noted that the posture of pilgrim people is that they are holy people, according to 1 Peter 2, 11, and that they are honorable people.
04:57
Chapter 2, verse 12, that there is an internal holiness that we pursue through the power of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christ and that we are honorable people as we interact with the world outside us.
05:08
That kind of segued us into thinking about the practice of pilgrim people, which is where this little miniseries is situated in chapter 2, verse 13 through to 3, 7.
05:19
In the last message, we looked at the first of the three little vignettes, the three little scenes that Peter places us in as we looked at the relationship between citizens and government, well,
05:30
Christian citizens and government especially. And we saw that one of the marks of pilgrim people is that they properly honor human authorities.
05:39
They properly honor human authorities. And that brings us right up to the section that we're in today, which is going to be chapter 2, verses 18 through to 25.
05:49
And I hope that you have a Bible in front of you already. And if not, you've got time.
05:55
This is a recording. So pause, go grab a Bible or pull up your Bible on your device if needs be.
06:00
And let's walk through this text together. Now, a couple of things before we dig into our passage.
06:09
First of all, I think we need to take a step back for a minute and appreciate what Peter is doing here.
06:15
You see, I don't think Peter is just addressing random groups in society as he writes, as though he kind of cobbles through.
06:22
OK, let's talk about government. Let's talk about the workplace. And then let's talk about marriage and family, as we'll talk about in the next message.
06:30
No, I think what Peter is doing here is he's using each of these groups to teach the people of God in general, specific principles about our witness in the midst of a world that truly hates us.
06:45
We learned last time looking at First Peter chapter two, verse 13 through 17, that as pilgrim people, we honor human authority and that though we may not live in an empire or even a monarchy, if you live in the
06:57
United States for that matter, we do live in a world in which there will always be structures of authority and submission.
07:03
And the beautiful thing we learned from Peter is that we are not called as God's people to overthrow nor disrespect those structures, but to submit to them within the safe confines and boundaries of God's word.
07:17
Now, secondly, through these verses, I think there's a twofold emphasis that connects them together.
07:24
There's a thread that runs through this section from 2 .11 through to 3 .7.
07:30
In all three of these examples, there's an emphasis on suffering and or unjust treatment.
07:41
There's an emphasis on the fact that we are going to interact with people who are not always going to treat us as we feel or we ought to be treated.
07:49
But in the midst of that also, there's an emphasis that runs alongside that reality on doing good.
07:56
In fact, if you look at the text of First Peter with me for a moment, if you've got your Bible, which again,
08:01
I hope you do at this point, turn over to First Peter chapter two. Let me show you something in this passage real quick.
08:07
First Peter in chapter two, give me a minute to turn there in my own
08:13
Bible. First Peter in chapter two. And note with me how many times this language of doing good comes up.
08:25
So First Peter chapter two in verse 13. Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as a supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.
08:41
For it is God's will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.
08:48
So again, there's an emphasis on doing good, that as the people of God, we are characterized in the eyes of government as those not who do evil, but do what is good.
08:58
Well, even in our text today, can I draw your attention to. Verse 18, it says household slaves submit to your own masters with all reverence, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the cruel, for it brings favor with God, if because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.
09:17
For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it. But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.
09:28
In our next section that we'll look at next week in First Peter chapter three, Lord willing. Verse six,
09:34
Peter says, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, you have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.
09:44
So throughout the section, there was this emphasis on the Christian doing good in the midst of unjust suffering and in the midst of mistreatment.
09:57
And so as we look at these three examples that are given to us by Peter in this third example today, what we're going to see is that doing good.
10:08
Doesn't always mean that we're going to receive good. In fact, if I can remind you of those of you who've been following the series, what the big idea of this section is in First Peter.
10:22
Really, in its essence, the big idea of this section is that the, if I can get my screen to work here, here we go.
10:30
The people of God honor Jesus by living differently, remembering that this world is not their home.
10:38
That's really the thrust of this passage. It's the idea of what my pastor back in London used to call the ministry from the margins, that we as God's people, though we live in the world, we live differently from it.
10:52
And in living differently from it, we are remembering that this world is not our home, that we are, as I've put it in my sermon points, pilgrim people.
11:04
Well, for the remainder of our time this afternoon, I want to consider one more element of the practice of pilgrim people, which enables them to serve and honor
11:15
Jesus. And I want to add something to this. I didn't have on my original sermon in the face of unjust suffering.
11:23
So one more element of the practice of pilgrim people, which enables them to serve and honor Jesus in the face of unjust suffering.
11:31
So we've seen the practice of pilgrim people is that they properly honor human authority versus 13 through 17.
11:40
And now we see that pilgrim people endure unjust suffering versus 18 through to 25.
11:50
Pilgrim people endure unjust suffering to help us kind of get our arms around that.
11:58
I've broken that down a little further. For a moment, consider with me, first of all, what endurance looks like, what endurance looks like versus 18 through to 20.
12:10
Now, the sphere that Peter chooses to focus on to teach us this involves the ever thorny issue of the relationship between slaves and their masters.
12:23
Now, before we look at this, allow me to speak plainly for a moment. I've taught the
12:29
Bible in enough places and taught enough passages like this one to know that this, what we're about to read about slaves and masters makes 21st century people a little bit nervous sometimes, especially living in the
12:42
U .S. Given our nation's complex and horrific history of antebellum slavery,
12:48
I think at times there is a danger that stains our understanding of this topic as it appears in the scripture.
12:56
Such that we hear slavery and we immediately think, oh, my word, how can there possibly be slavery in a book like the
13:04
Bible and Paul isn't condemning it? Well, not Paul in this instance, Peter this time around.
13:11
But, oh, I think you can hear my friend. Let me turn that down some. There we go.
13:22
Allow me for a moment then to address what I think is the elephant in the room when we talk about this subject of slavery.
13:31
Because if we get caught up or should I say hung up on that,
13:37
I think we're going to miss the vital teaching in this passage. So for a moment, allow me to do a little bit of background work and dig into the world of the first century.
13:49
This may sound like stating the bleeding obvious, but the reality is slavery in the world of the
13:55
Bible was very different to slavery as was practiced here in the Americas. It was different for one thing in the fact that it was so pervasive.
14:03
Slavery was a very common part of life in the world of the
14:11
New Testament. In fact, some estimates tell us that up to one in three of the population of the ancient world were slaves of some sort.
14:22
One in three people that you could pick someone off the street at random and chances were a third of the people you picked up were slaves.
14:33
That's huge. That's very different. Also, slavery was quite a diverse affair in the ancient world.
14:41
This was not the mistreatment of one group of people over another. As one Bible commentator puts it, quote,
14:47
In ancient slavery, an educated slave was prized in cities throughout the ancient Mediterranean world.
14:52
Slaves were trained and served as physicians, architects, craftspeople, shopkeepers, cooks, barbers, artists, thespians, actors, magicians, prophets, teachers, professional poets and philosophers.
15:07
Some slaves could accumulate considerable wealth from their occupation. Another Bible background commentary puts it like this, quote,
15:16
Because of the poverty of many free laborers, the economic living conditions of slaves were far, were often, excuse me, far better.
15:24
This led many free laborers to sell themselves into slavery as a means of economic advancement.
15:35
This commentary goes on and says, This is not to say that slavery was essentially an ungodly structure that deprived a person of dignity and freedom.
15:43
It is simply to affirm that Roman era slavery did not share all of the same features of New World slavery that would ignite a rebellion.
15:52
So slavery was quite a complex affair. And I mention all this because I think one of the worst things that we can do, and if I teach people to study the
15:59
Bible, I make a note of this. One of the worst things we can do, and unfortunately, it's very easy for us to fall into this trap, is to impose 20th and 21st century understandings, history and events onto the world of the first century, and then to try and sit in judgment of the world of the first century, as though we are better than them.
16:23
I'm a history buff, and one of the things that my history teacher, when I was doing my GCSEs back in the UK, used to say, was that you don't judge history by your standards, which is a very intuitive thing to say, because if you do that,
16:37
I think it makes for bad history. And more importantly, when you're studying the Bible, I think it can make for very bad theology.
16:44
One last thing on this theme, and then we'll actually get to our passage. While the New Testament doesn't come out and advocate for the total abolition of slavery,
16:53
I think a very good case can be made that the teaching of the New Testament lays the stage for that abolition.
17:00
So, when you look at the New Testament and it's teaching about man made in the image of God, the humane treatment of all men, equality in Christ, you put all of that together, you keep preaching that and pounding that, slavery was never really going to last long under that.
17:16
Now, we do know that there were also Christian slave owners. If that is difficult for you, well, there's a whole book in your
17:24
New Testament you might want to tear out, it's called the Book of Philemon. Philemon, who is the title character of that book, is the one that Paul writes to and says, listen,
17:32
I've got your slave Anesimus here, I'm sending him back to you. Receive him as a brother in the Lord. Oh, and if he stole anything from me, which seems to be the implication, if he took anything from you, don't worry about it,
17:43
I'll pay for it. So, here you have Paul, an apostle, who is respecting the social order, as it were, allowing that to continue.
17:54
In fact, even in our text, did you see it there in verse 18? Peter talks about the fact that there are some masters who were good and gentle, that they treated their slaves wonderfully.
18:06
There were some masters who did that, but then you had your cruel guys.
18:12
And Peter's focus here really isn't on the good guys. In fact, look at the text again, verse 18.
18:20
Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence, not only to the good and gentle ones, the gentle ones, excuse me, but also to the cruel.
18:31
Peter isn't really focused on the good guys, as you read this, he's focused on the cruel ones. You see, it's easy to submit to the good guy.
18:39
I mean, when someone treats you right, it's easy to submit to that. But what do you do when someone doesn't treat you right, even though you deserve to be treated right?
18:48
That's what I think Peter is dealing with here. Unless you think that this has no application to us in an age where slavery is outlawed,
18:55
I'm going to suggest that the principle here, the point behind the point, if you will, the point here is universal.
19:03
That a slave doing his job and being mistreated is the height of injustice.
19:10
And that all of us will encounter some form of injustice, maybe not quite as egregious as that, but we might.
19:17
You see, God's people are always in danger of mishandling the opportunity that unjust treatment provides.
19:26
It sounds weird when you say it like that, don't you? That there's an opportunity that is afforded to us as God's people in the face of unjust treatment.
19:36
Well, regardless of their station in life, all God's people need to learn this lesson. I mean, I know my own life.
19:42
For me, mishandling unjust treatment often manifests itself when I'm being misunderstood or misrepresented.
19:51
Most things I'm willing to let go. Something about that in my own heart that I'm keenly aware of, where when somebody misrepresents me,
19:58
I want to say, no, no, no, no, no. You don't get to do that. And sometimes I will come out swinging when someone says
20:05
I said something that I know I didn't say. And a text like this convicts even me because I'm reminded of the fact that,
20:13
OK, sometimes for the gospel sake, you've got to be willing to let that go. And so the principle here,
20:19
I think, is going to be valid for everybody, regardless of what social situation you find yourself in.
20:25
It's interesting that Peter says here in our text that we are to submit with all reverence.
20:31
And the question becomes, is it reverence towards our masters or reverence towards God? Well, I think if you take the teaching of the
20:40
New Testament as a whole, it seems to suggest that it's reverence towards God that is in view here.
20:46
So Ephesians chapter six, verse five, slaves obey your human masters with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart, as you would
20:53
Christ. In a sort of parallel passage to that Colossians chapter three, verse 22, slaves obey your human masters and everything.
21:02
Don't work only while being watched, literally with eye service, as people pleases, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the
21:10
Lord. In fact, even in first Peter that we've been studying, for those of you who've been following along, even in first Peter, reverence is always in the direction of God in this letter.
21:23
It's never towards men. We respect men, we honour men, but ultimately we do so because of our reverence before the
21:32
Lord. You see, it's out of reverence for God that slaves were to submit to their masters, be they good and upright or bad and bent.
21:42
I use the word bent because this word that's translated cruel is where we get our word scoliosis from.
21:48
If you know what scoliosis is, it's an extreme curvature of the spine, has to be operated on to be repaired.
21:53
Well, that's what this word means. It's the idea of being bent or perverse, that you're giving somebody something that is polar opposite of what they deserve.
22:06
And Peter says that it's out of reverence for God that we endure that. And that's true in the workplace and it's true just about everywhere else in life.
22:14
You see, in a society where the concept of our rights is so ingrained in us, the truly counter -cultural and God -glorifying truth that this passage puts before us, that we are to place ourselves under authority and submit to them even when they don't deserve it, that can be a tough sell from a human perspective.
22:37
But here's the thing. As Christians, we don't view things from a human perspective, do we? In fact,
22:42
Peter helps us with this. He gives us a motivation in verse 19. So if you've got your Bible in front of you, verse 19, he says, for it brings favor if because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.
22:57
Now, to be honest, this verse is a little tough to translate into English, but the Christian standard Bible, which is the translation
23:02
I preach and teach from, I think it gets to the meat of the matter. Well enough. That as we live with a full consciousness of God, enduring suffering that is unjust,
23:13
God's grace is being poured out. Think about this. Isn't this kind of completely upside down to the way that we think?
23:21
Don't we often think that God's grace isn't keeping us in the midst of suffering?
23:26
Is that he takes us out and away from suffering? It might be different to the way we think, but I think this is the kind of thinking.
23:35
That's a lot of things. This is the way in which the Bible encourages us to think. So in Acts chapter 14,
23:42
Paul is going back to all the churches that he had ministered to and had planted. And in Acts chapter 14, verse 22, he says that he was going from place to place, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them.
23:57
So remember, this is an encouragement from Paul. It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
24:07
Wow. Paul says, this is an encouraging thing for you.
24:12
You know how we make it to the kingdom of God? On a bed of suffering. Philippians chapter 1, verse 29.
24:18
Paul again says, for it has been granted to you to suffer on Christ's behalf. Not, oh, excuse me.
24:24
Let me just read that and then read it again. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.
24:40
That's a part of the Christian's life that we are called to suffering. In verse 20,
24:45
Peter is going to shed some more light even on that. Verse 20, for what credit is there when, if you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it?
24:56
For what credit is there if, when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.
25:07
For the note takers in the room or listening in this case, Luke chapter 6, verses 27 to 36.
25:12
Jesus makes a very similar point. I won't read it because of our time. But suffice to say,
25:19
Peter seems to be channeling Jesus' teaching almost word for word in terms of how we are to handle suffering, even when we do what is good.
25:29
You see, when we suffer the results of quote -unquote suffer, the results of our bad behavior, can we really call that suffering?
25:37
If you decide to drive drunk and you crash the car, you're not suffering, you're receiving natural consequences.
25:43
If you decide to leave your hand on a hot stove unsafely and you get burned.
25:50
Yeah, it hurts, but can we really call it suffering? Because you're receiving the natural consequences of your actions. But doing good shouldn't naturally lead to suffering, should it?
26:01
But of course we live in a fallen world. And when it does, and it will, when it does, our response ought to be one of humility and submission.
26:15
Why? Because this leads to favor with God. Now, I don't know about you, this doesn't sound like a tall order.
26:24
I mean, it is a tall order. It sounds almost otherworldly. And if it does sound like it's out of this world, it's supposed to.
26:33
And in fact, I'm going to go a step further and say not only is it supposed to, I'm going to say that's good news.
26:41
We've spent some time thinking about what endurance looks like. But Peter isn't going to leave us on our own to figure out what endurance looks like.
26:47
Oh no, he's still got some teaching to do for us today. Consider with me, secondly, why we can endure.
26:55
Why we can endure verses 21 through to 25. In verses 21 to 25,
27:01
Peter, as it were, ups the ante in a very good way. Because what he does is he points to Christ as the supreme model of enduring unjust suffering.
27:12
He points to Christ as the supreme model of enduring unjust suffering. Now, we got to be honest and say that in our day and age, this is a concept, this idea of Christ as our model in suffering.
27:25
This is a concept that's fallen on some hard times. For some, you talk about Jesus as an example, and they see that as a very dangerous distraction from Jesus as savior.
27:39
Either he's a savior or he's an example, but he can't be both. Well, I applaud the desire to maintain the uniqueness of Jesus' saving work, and we should all be passionate about Jesus' work as savior.
27:52
But I don't think that's a biblical distinction. I don't think you can say that there is either
27:58
Jesus as savior or Jesus as example. I don't think that's a distinction we can make.
28:03
And I don't think Peter does either in our text. If you have got a Bible in front of you, verse 21, he says,
28:09
For you were called to this, in other words, enduring suffering. Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.
28:23
We'll talk more particularly about the nature of Christ's suffering in just a moment.
28:30
But before Peter even gets into that, he reminds us and tells us something about the nature of Christ's sufferings.
28:38
You see, as Jesus suffered, he wasn't just bearing our sins. And it sounds blasphemous to even say just because there was a weighty and powerful thing that was in and of itself.
28:50
But he wasn't doing just that. The Bible makes us to understand that he was also leaving us an example.
28:57
The word, for example, is an interesting one. It's the word that was used for a pattern that was placed over paper so that a child could learn to write letters.
29:08
I'm old enough just about to remember having to use tracing paper at school so you could copy a pattern and then reproduce the pattern somewhere else.
29:17
But that's the picture here. See, Peter wants us to understand that Jesus doesn't just give us some vague principles for life, as it were, but he actually gives us a pattern, a blueprint by which to live.
29:32
And in particular, Peter is going to focus on the elements of Christ's example that relates to suffering.
29:39
So what exactly does Jesus' blueprint for suffering look like? What can I draw your attention to verses 22 and 23?
29:46
Text says he, referring to Jesus, did not commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth.
29:53
When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
30:03
Think for a moment with me. Was there ever unjust, unwarranted and undeserved suffering like Jesus' suffering?
30:13
Think about the most innocent person you know who's gone through something. As innocent as they are, they're not
30:20
Jesus. Jesus was spotless and sinless. Jesus was perfectly honest in thought and in word.
30:29
And indeed, he was truly truth incarnate. And yet during his life,
30:35
Jesus took abuse from all kinds of people. All through his life, he takes abuse.
30:41
One of the ones that every time I think about it, after it was explained to me, it sticks with me.
30:49
Jesus is preaching and his preaching is clearly making an impact. And his enemies, the
30:55
Pharisees, turn around and say, why should we listen to you? I'm paraphrasing somewhat. We know who our father is.
31:04
The implication being that Jesus was illegitimate. And he's receiving that abuse, not in private, publicly,
31:17
I think to the cross, even on the cross, even as he's dying. There is no let up in the abuse he receives from people.
31:24
People are on the ground saying, you said you were the son of God, bring yourself down. Even the person next to him who was crucified, who actually was a criminal, is mocking and abusing him.
31:38
And it's interesting, you look at all of these scenes in the life of Jesus where he's enduring unjust suffering on the part of others.
31:46
And what does Jesus do? He doesn't act in his own defense.
31:51
Oh no, do you catch what Peter says?
31:57
He didn't threaten, but he entrusted himself. And the idea is it's an ongoing entrusting.
32:04
He kept on entrusting himself. He kept on turning over the case, as it were, to the only one who could judge it rightly.
32:12
And I need to pause and ask for a moment as you're listening to this. Is that how you, is that how
32:19
I, is that how we endure unjust suffering? Is our natural response to, as it were, stomp our feet, demand our rights and seek solace in our supposed ability and worth?
32:35
Is that how we respond to unjust suffering? And by the way, I'm not talking about crimes here. We have civil authorities who deal with crimes.
32:42
I'm not saying that if someone is acting in a criminal manner towards you, just grin and bear. That's not my point at all.
32:49
No, I'm talking about the suffering that comes as the result of our distinctly Christian witness.
32:56
If I can speak plainly for a moment, I think our generation of Western Christians who have been unfortunately discipled in the ways and means of our culture and not the ways and means of the kingdom of God.
33:07
I believe our generation of Christians has lost, has lost sight of the fact that we are not promised an easy road as we live in this world.
33:19
I think it's easy for us, especially living in America, who have enjoyed something of a privileged social class, as it were, as a result of being
33:28
Christians. We're now starting to discover that actually, whereas there used to be some sort of cultural advantage to being a
33:36
Christian, there isn't anymore. And in fact, there's more cultural capital in being anti -Christian.
33:46
And it's interesting because we'll at times act like, we won't say this, well, not all of us anyway, but we'll at times talk like believers who are persecuted or have less than us.
33:58
Well, they chose that life, but we know they might have chosen that, but we have the right to live on easy street.
34:09
You know, the relative comfort of the church in the Western world, in my opinion, has often made us spiritually weak, especially when times of difficulty come.
34:20
And I think that as we see the example of Jesus, we're going to have to rediscover not just a theology of suffering, but a theology of unjust suffering.
34:33
Let me say that again. We're going to need to learn to develop a theology, not just of suffering, not just, okay, how do
34:39
I deal with the stresses and strains of life and the things I think are undes... Okay, not just those, the things that we can't really control.
34:45
What do we do when unjust suffering is being foisted on us? I think as the days get darker and more difficult, we might want to think about that.
34:55
But returning to our text, how far was Jesus willing to go in enduring suffering that was unmerited?
35:03
Well, can I draw your attention to 1 Peter 2 .24? Great gospel text.
35:09
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live for righteousness.
35:16
By his wounds, you have been healed. How far was
35:21
Jesus willing to go? He was willing to take on the very curse of God by dying on the cross.
35:31
Think about this. Jesus, who had never sinned, who had in fact lived a life of perfect conformity to God's word and will and thought, word and deed.
35:41
Jesus carried our sins, not his sins, but your sin and my sin.
35:48
What's the old hymn? It says that he took my sins and my sorrows and he made them his very own.
35:57
Well, that's what Jesus did. He carried our sins. Literally, the text here, when it says bore our sins, this is the idea of he took up our sins, that he picked them up and said,
36:06
I will go and deal with these, carried our sins onto the cross. And as a result, he received the righteous punishment of God that we should have received.
36:17
But here's the beautiful thing. Through that death, we received the gift of righteousness when we had earned the wages of our own sin, that the righteousness of Christ is credited to us.
36:29
And that our sin is credited to him. And when we receive that righteousness, that's what the
36:34
Bible calls justification. That's what the Bible calls being made right with God.
36:42
The New Hampshire Confession of Faith describes justification like this, calls it the great gospel blessing, which Christ of his fullness bestows on such as believe in him, that justification consists of the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life on principles of righteousness, that it is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness, which we have done, but solely through his own redemption and righteousness, by virtue of which faith, his perfect righteousness is freely imputed to us of God.
37:11
That's what happened because Jesus was willing to endure unjust suffering.
37:19
And there's a wonderful thing. The same Christ who through his life and death grants us pardon, turns around and through the power of his
37:29
Holy Spirit, he gives us power to live in a way that pleases God. He's right here in the text, verse 24.
37:36
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live for righteousness.
37:46
Jesus' death is our death through our union with him. And so he died to sin. We died to sin.
37:52
He lived righteously. His righteousness is imputed to us that we may live righteously.
38:00
And through Jesus, we are transformed. We are made anew. We are worked over a transformation that would never have happened if Jesus never endured the unjust suffering of his life and death.
38:22
Well, our passage closes out beautifully with a reminder of who we were prior to that work and what we are now.
38:30
And so verse 25, he says, for you were like sheep going astray. We were lost, hopelessly lost.
38:37
In fact, the word that's used for lost here is where we get our word planet from in the English language, that we were just adrift.
38:46
We were just there, lost and drifting deep in our sin.
38:52
But the beautiful news of the gospel is that Christ stepped in. And once he steps in, all we could do was, as it were, just make an about face.
39:03
See how Peter describes it? He says, you were like sheep going astray. You were wandering, but now you have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your soul.
39:16
We went from the enemies of God to those who are part of his fold. That's that shepherd language.
39:23
And under his care, there's that overseer language. And brother and sister listening to this, none of this would have been possible if Jesus was unwilling to endure unjust suffering.
39:36
So again, I ask, as I wrap this up, what is our response to suffering that is unjust?
39:43
How do we handle unjust suffering as pilgrim people? And I'll leave you with this final question as I pray.
39:50
Does it mirror and reflect the response of our savior as we see in this passage?
39:58
Let's pray together. Almighty God who gives us life and strength, we read passages like this and the ante is upped as it were.
40:07
We see the weightiness of what you've called us to and we see our own inability. But father, praise your name for this text because even in this text, we see
40:16
Christ. And so father, I would ask that for all of those who are listening, who will watch this and listen to this later, that we would continue to find rest and joy and peace in the person and the work of Jesus.
40:37
Thank you so much. We ask all these things in Jesus name and for his sake.