Life in the Father's House #3 - "A Culture of Mutual Care" (Romans 12:12-21)

The Church as a Cruise Ship or a Warship

I have tagged the text that's before us this afternoon a culture of mutual care, a culture of mutual care. Back in 2018 I had the privilege of getting to go for my first cruise. Um, not really the cruise type, never, well not really the cruise, not that I'm not the cruise type, I've never had cruise money, we'll put it that way.

And so we got to go on a cruise, it was my parents-in-law's, I want to say 40th anniversary, and so they very graciously said hey we're taking the family on a cruise to celebrate. It was a great and wonderful time but the experience was interesting for me, again I've never been on one of these things before, so after a couple of days I started noticing some stuff that was not bad, just different.

For one thing if you've ever been on a cruise you know that they basically just ply you with food all the time, it's just there all the time. I have no objection to that, so that was interesting. But yeah we'd leave during the day, we'd go do excursions and all of those wonderful things, and we come back and as if almost by magic the room that was not necessarily the tidiest when we left it was nice and clean when we got back.

Throughout the, I think we were on it for about a week or so, throughout the entire time people basically existed to serve us. I got to know some of the folks who were serving us pretty well, there was one guy his name was Ogun, he was from Thailand, he would be in the hall where we would have dinner every day and every time he'd see me he'd be like Mr Kofi how are you?

Oh I'm fine, after he knew what my name was, learnt it first time, Mr Kofi how are you? Oh I'm fine Ogun, how are you? Every time he'd see me do you need anything, can I help? Like it was a great experience and then we got off the boat and I have to admit I got kind of spoiled by that because I got used to for a week basically getting whatever I want whenever I want, but that's what a cruise ship is designed to be isn't it?

It's basically a pleasure boat and it's not a bad thing, it's what it's made to be. I contrast that with, I've had the privilege, I'm a big history buff and so I've had the privilege of visiting a number of decommissioned warships, anyone had the privilege of seeing any of those?

If you have they are very different to a cruise ship, they're both ships, they're both built to accommodate people on water but the function and the purpose is very very different. I've had friends who served in, I'm from the UK, I've had friends who served in the Royal Navy and when they talk to me about life on ships and some have served on subs even, when they talk to me about like Kofi it's very different to a cruise ship because on a cruise ship people are there primarily to be served on a battleship or a sub for the most part everybody's got a role, everybody's got a job and that's a very different experience to when you're on a cruise ship and basically you don't have a job, your only job is to enjoy and have fun.

Kofi where are you going with this? Well I start with this because I want to ask a question, which one is a church supposed to be? Is a church in the mind and design of God, is a church designed to be a cruise ship where people come, they are served, they don't really have to do anything, it's a handful of people in, well in proportion anyway, a handful of people doing all of the work for the majority, is that how, was that what church is designed to be or is a church designed to be something more like a aircraft carrier or a sub?

Is it designed to be a place where everybody is serving for the good of everyone? That's the question that kind of came to my mind as I found myself in our passage for this afternoon in Romans chapter 12, allow me to reorient you or if you're visiting to kind of give you a picture of where we are in Romans chapter 12.

You remember that I said that Romans chapter 12 is essentially asking the question after Paul has spent 11 chapters explaining all the glories of the gospel, he's dealt with the depravity of man, he's dealt with justification and sanctification, he's dealt with the faithfulness of God to his promises to Israel, whatever that looks like, this is not the time for that debate, but he spent 11 chapters serving the glories of the gospel and then he comes to chapter 12 and in chapter 12 he really starts to unpack what does this look like?

What does this glorious gospel message look like when God's people come together? And so verse one and two, you remember I said a couple of weeks ago for those of you who were here that in verses one and two you kind of have the foundation of this, that we lay down our lives as living sacrifices and we're not conformed to the world but we're transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Verses three through eight, the role of the Holy Spirit is mentioned where he enables and he empowers us to be the kinds of people that God desires for us to be. And then we come to the passage that we've been in for the last couple of weeks, verses 9 through 21.

And you remember that I said that in verses 9 through 21 you've really got three major themes that we're thinking about. So two weeks ago we began with really what is the foundation? Christian love in verses 9 and 10.

And then last week we looked at the subject of zeal and zeal in the Christian life, what it is, how we can cultivate it, what our role in that is. And now we come to verses 12 through 21 and I initially said that the theme of this little section is service but it is service but I think it's very specific, what kind of service?

I've tagged this message a culture of mutual care because the service we give to one another is to care for one another. In one sense this is the logical result, this is what should happen if Christian love is present and there is genuine spiritual zeal.

Because after all Christian love is sacrificial love, it's love that seeks to give its all for others. And where there is zeal for the Lord, there's going to be zeal for that which is closest to his heart, which is his people.

So really what we're talking about here in verses 12 through 21 makes perfect sense if you paid attention to everything he said just before. And so that's what we're going to spend our time this afternoon looking at verses 12 through 21 and what a ministry or a culture of mutual care, what that looks like.

Now allow me to give you a heads up, there's going to be quite a bit of content here compared to usual. And even that I'm really scratching the surface, there's so much more that could be said about each of the things that Paul says here.

So let me encourage you, you got a note sheet when you came in, use that to jot down some questions. Things that may be like, I'd like to hear more about that or I have questions about that. Wednesday night at seven, we have our midweek gathering.

It's an opportunity to really ask questions and to dig a little bit deeper into the themes from the sermon. So I encourage you if you're able to be there and bring your questions. For this afternoon, what does it look like when a local church, not just this, take our local church out of the equation for just a moment, any local church anywhere in the world, what does it look like when a local church has a genuine culture of mutual care for one another?

What does that look like? Can we say when we look at a church, no this is a church that's identified and marked by care for one another? Well that leads to my big idea for this sermon. My big idea for the sermon is simply this.

A culture of care seeks to apply the gospel in the context of real life relationship for the glory of God. A culture of care seeks to apply the gospel in the context of real life relationship for the glory of God.

That's really all we're thinking about here. How it is that we who have come to know the gospel and experience its power in our lives, what does it look like when we actually apply that in the context of real life relationship with one another for God's glory?

What does it look like? That's what we're going to take our time to consider this afternoon. And so for the rest of our time, I want you to consider with me both the principles behind as well as the practice of a culture of mutual care.

Two points I have. Principles and practice. Let's think about the principles behind a culture of care as well as the practice of it. So let's start with the principles then. Point number one in our message.

What are the principles for a culture of care? What are the foundational principles that we need to think about and have in mind when we think about a culture of care? What are the principles for a culture of care?

And it's good that we start here because as human beings our temptation is often to jump straight to the practical. It means you jump to give me a list of things to do so I can go do them. Now that's not always a bad thing.

However, the Bible thankfully frees us from jumping too quickly to what do we need to do by forcing us to think before we act. The Bible thankfully forces us, and I say forces because I think as human beings we don't naturally do this, but the Bible forces us to consider the why and the what of our obedience before we jump straight to the how of our obedience.

And as you, I would argue that as you come to verse 12 of Romans 12, Paul is giving you some foundational principles, some foundational ideas and concepts that need to be in place if this local church or any local church is going to be a place of mutual care ministry to one another.

So look at verse 12 with me. What does Paul say there? He says rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer. What's interesting is that all three of those commands are present active participles.

I try to avoid grammar as much as I can in sermons, but this is important. These are all present actives. In other words, these are ongoing things. These are not just things you do one time say, oh good, we could take that off the list.

No, these are to be at the foundation. They're to be constant in the life of a local church. Three principles here. I've given them easy headings just so we can follow along. First of all, there is the principle of what we can call a joyful hope.

The principle of joyful hope. So he begins in verse 12 and he says rejoice in hope, literally in hope be rejoicing. A culture of care begins with having the right hope. Now if we're going to talk about hope, let's make sure that we know what hope is.

For some people, hope is basically the spiritual equivalent of, I've often, some of you who've been around Redeemer a long time have heard me use this phrase, being a spiritual Pollyanna. You know, just everything's going to be great.

Everything's going to be wonderful. You know, always look on the bright side of life and related phrases. Here's the small problem. I don't think that's the Bible's definition of hope. That might be our culture's definition of hope, but it's not the Bible's definition of hope.

No, I think the biblical expectation, the biblical understanding, excuse me, when we talk about hope, biblical hope has behind it the idea of a certain expectation that's based on solid promises. Let me say that again.

Hope in the Bible is a certain expectation that is backed or based on solid promises. It's a certain expectation based on solid promises. Now we can agree that there is an unseen element to hope when you read it in the Bible.

If you're taking notes, Romans chapter 8 verses 24 and 25, Paul says, now in this hope we were saved, referring to the hope of the new creation. Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees, which is a good question.

Eddie is sitting right there. If I can see Eddie, I don't say, well, I hope I can see Eddie. No, Eddie's sitting right there. I don't have to hope that I will see Eddie. He's right there. If I was to say, man, I hope I get to see my brother Joshua, that's hope.

Why? Because Joshua lives 5 ,000 miles away. So Paul's questions are very logical on who hopes for what he sees. Verse 25, but now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

So yes, hope does have an unseen element to it, and yet this unseen but very real expectation is why I use the word certain. This unseen expectation is backed by the guarantee of what God has said. That's why I said it's backed by solid promises.

God speaks, and hope, as we understand it, is our certain expectation. Lord, you have spoken. I haven't seen it, but I know you're going to do this because that's who you are. You keep your word, and since God keeps his word, that's just the promise of God is as good as anything you can see.

Okay, Kofi, great, wonderful. Why do we need to talk about this when we're talking about mutual care? Well, very simple. You see, a culture of care begins with the reality that though we live in this world, this world is not the final destination for us.

Now, hear me well when I say that. When I say this world is not our final destination, that doesn't mean that we kind of sit on our hands, kind of, you know, I'm waiting for Jesus to come and get me. I'm not really going to do anything.

I'm not, well, there are whole sections of the Bible that say don't live like that. Far from it. We live in the world. We seek to glorify in it. We glorify God in it, excuse me. We take our vocation seriously.

Whatever God has called us to, whatever area of life we find ourselves in, we take that area seriously. So, yes, we are waiting for Jesus to come back, and yes, we are waiting for a sure and future hope, but all that we do, we do rejoicing in the sure expectation that one day we will see Christ, that one day we will see his kingdom established and his reign on the earth, that one day we will more fully enjoy the eternal life in that day that we enjoy a foretaste of now, and that's what fuels the kind of others-focused care that Paul's going to talk about in the rest of this passage.

In a very real sense, it's understanding what God has said about our future that gives us ability to rejoice in the here and now, even when things are tough and things are difficult. So, that's the first foundational principle he gives us, this principle of a joyful hope, but secondly, he gives us a principle of patient suffering, of patient suffering.

So, again, look at, if you're not back there already, Romans chapter 12 verse 12, rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction. This follows on quite nicely from the idea of hope. You need to be patient in suffering, and the reason you can be is because properly grounded hope gives you perspective in the face of trials.

It's knowing what your hope is, even though you can't see it yet, that in the mystery of God's working with us, is designed to give us perspective in the face of trials. I don't know about you, but isn't it all too easy to lose your head when a trial comes?

Isn't it tempting to kind of run around like chicken little, proclaiming the sky is falling, the sky is falling, when it seems like the sky is actually falling, and while we may often be surprised by our responses to trial, isn't it a good thing to know that God is not surprised by our responses to trials?

That we are not doing anything that God has not seen before, and so thankfully, he gives us in his word the info that we need to prepare for trials. A few passages, so James chapter 1, James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4, James begins his wonderful letter, what's been called the Proverbs of the New Testament, and he says, consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

Further down, James 1 12, he says, blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. That's why 1 Peter 1 6, we can rejoice, even though for us, as Peter says it, for a short time, we suffer grief in various trials.

I don't know about you, but I know there have been times in my life, even recently, where I've been tempted to ask God to put a rush order on whatever trial I'm going through. Like, yeah, I'm going through a trial, Lord, but can we make this quick?

This is, this feels like it's been going on a little long, like, can we expedite this a little bit? Can we treat this like Amazon Prime? Can I get two-day delivery? And God in his providence says, no, you can't, and that's where patience comes in.

That's where faith comes in, and trusting God comes in, and that's where preaching the good news of the gospel to yourself regularly comes in. It's as we remind ourselves that God is using our trials, and our sufferings, and our weariness in life.

He's using all of that in your life, and that is so needed, and so what we need when those moments come is to be patient. As my mom is fond of saying, God's time is the best time, so let's wait for God's time.

That is so needed. It's needed for us as individuals, and it's definitely needed in the context of body life, if we're going to care for and serve one another well. So hopeful joy, patient suffering, there's a third principle that he lays out in verse 12, and it's the principle of persistent prayer, the principle of persistent prayer.

So end of verse 12, rejoice and hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer. Now I won't dwell here long because, you know, long-time Redeemerites know corporate prayer is something of a hobby horse of mine.

I don't need much motivation to talk about that, but allow me to just make one observation, just one observation, one application real quick. So that phrase, be persistent, at least in the Christian standard Bible, it's translated be persistent.

That phrase appears in a few places, one of which is Acts chapter 2 verse 42. If you don't know that verse, I encourage you to memorize it. It's a great verse. Acts chapter 2 verse 42, this one verse snapshot of the life of the local church, Acts chapter 2 verse 42, it says that they devoted themselves, same verb, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer, literally the prayers.

It's not an accident that Paul will use the exact same language in encouraging the church in Rome to be persistent in prayer that characterized the church in Jerusalem at their outset. Why? Because prayer was not incidental to the life of the apostolic church, not like it is sadly in some churches where prayer is very much incidental.

You see, if we're going to be a culture of mutual care, if we're going to be a culture of care, if we're going to have, excuse me, a culture of caring for one another, healthy churches, churches that care for one another, those churches, they pray, they pray together, and they pray often.

They pray, they pray together, and they pray often. I mean, think about it. Think about this with me for a moment. What more caring thing could we do as a church than to bring each other's cares and concerns before the throne of grace?

Is there anything more caring we could do? I don't think there is. I don't think there is. So, joyful hope, patient suffering, persistent prayer. Those are the foundations, the core principles of a culture of care in a local church, I'm going to argue.

Everything else we're about to talk about flows from this. So, since we've now got some core principles in place, let's talk real quickly, number two, about practicing a culture of care. Practicing a culture of care, and some of us, if verse 12 gives us a foundation, verses 13 to 21 give us the structure on which this foundation, give us the structure, excuse me, on which we build.

So, what does it look like for us to practice genuine mutual care as a body? Well, first of all, it starts as we share life with one another. It starts as we share life with one another, verse 13. So, again, look at verse 13 in your Bibles.

What does Paul say? He says, share with the saints in their needs. Pursue hospitality. You see, a culture, a commitment, excuse me, to a culture of care is a commitment to a shared life together. I've poked fun at the, you know, in church life, church with a big C, we have these phrases that we use, some of which honestly just sound kind of weird and we don't use them anywhere else.

And so, as you know, occasionally I like to poke fun at some of them because they do sound kind of weird. One of them that I've heard a lot in recent years is the phrase, do life together. Have you ever thought about this?

We don't use that phrase anywhere else. And I poke fun at it because, one, it's just very weird grammar. You don't do life together, you live life together. I'm not much of a grammar Nazi, but that's one grammatical, that doesn't, that's just weird, no, doesn't really, doesn't sound right on the ear.

But as much as I like to poke fun at that phrase, there's very, very, very real truth behind what people mean when they say that phrase. Because the reality is we do live life together as the people of God.

And so Paul says that we are to share, first of all, with the saints in their needs. The phrase share with the saints is an interesting one. Share is from the same root that we get the word fellowship from.

Those of you who were here in the summer when we worked our way through Philippians, remember we talked about this idea of partnership and we said that that's probably a better way to render that word, partnership.

You see, we care for one another by partnering with each other in our seasons of need, whether that's material need or spiritual need, whether it's a kind word, whether it's getting together for a cup of coffee, whether it's helping a family move, whether it's just something as simple as listening when someone shares what is going on with them and taking an interest.

These are all ways in which we share with, we partner with one another in our needs. And regardless of whatever we end up doing specifically, let's pause for a moment to get very practical about this.

Regardless of the how, this is going to require some work, isn't it? For one thing, it's going to call you to be involved in the lives of one another above and beyond what we do on Sundays. Can I pause for a moment?

I'm a pastor's kid, which means I've been around church pretty much my entire life. Been in churches that are really big, churches that have been really small. Having grown up in church my entire life, it's very interesting what people's perception or people's expectation, I should say, of a church is when you start talking to them.

You ever notice that? People have very specific ideas of what church is supposed to do. And of all the expectations I've heard, some reasonable and some I'm just like I don't know what planet you're on, sorry, that's just not going to happen.

Of all the expectations I hear, one of the biggest is, sometimes it's unspoken, but the way that people carry themselves tells you this, we kind of expect Sunday to carry the load for everything in the life of a church.

So if you don't talk to me on Sunday, that means you don't care about me. Well, what if I try to call you during the week? Well, I'm busy during the week. Sunday's the time I have for church. Well, sorry, if we're going to share with each other's needs, here's a point of application, that might require a little more time than just what we do on Sunday for an hour and a half.

It would be akin to me saying that, you know, I live with Laura, I love Laura, I want to get to know Laura more and more, but hey, Laura, you will get 90 minutes of my week to get to know me. I would hope that those of you who've been married a while will pull me up and say, okay, little man, let me teach you something real quick.

That's not how a marriage functions, but somehow we think that's okay when it comes to getting to know one another in the church. The reality is, if we're going to share in life together, if we're going to share with each other in our needs, that's going to call for us to be involved in each other's lives above and beyond Sundays.

And it's not just getting to know people, it's not enough to just know what is happening, but to be willing to step in and help when you know something is happening. To give us an example, to help us with this, Paul gives us a simple example.

So he says, share with the saints in their need, and he gives you an example, pursue hospitality. Ah, I wish I had time. There's so much I'd like to say about hospitality. I think it's one of those friends that, one of those words, excuse me, that suffers in the hands of its friends.

I'll be honest, for years I thought when we had to do hospitality, especially growing up in a pastor's home, that that was when the house had to be more clean than ever, you know, especially as kids. And I grew up in an African family, which meant that basically when visitors came, you were expelled to your room, like you don't exist, bye.

Which meant I really didn't like when people came around the house, because like, this is my house, why are you kicking me out of my own house? You know, the real good plates came out, the ones that we were never allowed to use.

And quite frankly, I think due to unrealistic expectations, and frankly, middle-class Western assumptions, hospitality has gone from something we should love doing to think about it, it's become a chore.

And so since it's become a chore, we're kind of glad to not have to do it if we don't. But Paul says, essentially, Paul doesn't just say do hospitality. He could have said that and he would have been absolutely right, but he says you are to pursue it.

Not only should you do it, you should be going out of your way to find opportunities to do it. I think part of that comes from if we can just rescue this word from the definitions we've given it, and reclaim a biblical definition, it might be helpful.

You should never just define a term in the Bible just by breaking down the words. I've got a couple of men here who know more Greek than me. That's a fallacy, probably not a good way to handle language, but I think on this one we might be okay.

The word that's translated hospitality in your Bible comes from two words. Word for love, and love for strangers. Oh, love for strangers. Okay, I'm getting an odd, so okay, I didn't make that up. Good.

It's the word for love of strangers. You see, biblical hospitality is simply demonstrating love for people, and welcoming them into our lives. Biblical hospitality is simply demonstrating love for people.

In fact, in my notes I put it like this, love for people who are not our family, they're strangers in that sense, and welcoming them into our lives. It's not throwing a complex dinner party, it doesn't require bells and whistles.

I love what my pastor, the man who in a lot of ways taught me about ministry, what he used to say, when he would try, he was trying to encourage our very young church to practice hospitality, he would always say, guys, pizza will do.

He's like, you don't have to make the pizza, order one, it's fine, because that's not the point. The food is a means to an end. What's the end? The end is welcoming people into our lives. Really, we're talking about the difference between hospitality that's done from the motivation of grace versus the motivation of drudgery.

Drudgery says, well, I guess I have to, I mean, the Bible says so, I guess I should, and you know, if I'm going to do this, we all know that people are coming, they're going to judge me, you know, the house isn't put right, I didn't use the right plates, all the rest of it.

So, you know, we have to do this, but let's make sure we do it well, so we don't have anything to complain about. They come, they leave. That's drudgery. Nobody wants to do that. No, done from the motivation of grace, our hearts say, I get to do this.

It's imperfect, but I get to welcome somebody else. Oh, and by the way, that puts some responsibility on the person who's receiving the hospitality. Why? Because you get to say, I'm being welcomed into a life just as God has welcomed me in Christ.

I mean, it makes sense if you realize that hospitality, like everything else in the Christian life, really isn't about you, it's about the other person. If we understand that, I think hospitality moves from being a chore that we have to do to something that we're just going to fall over ourselves trying to find opportunities to practice.

And so a culture of care looks like sharing the needs of one another, but it also looks like, verse 14, helping one another to respond well to hostility. Respond well to hostility. So verse 14, Paul says, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

It's a fun little play on words here because the word for pursue, when he says pursue hospitality and the word for persecute, they're the same word, different voice, but same word. Why would Paul insert this verse 14 in a section about mutual care and service?

Why would he talk about blessing those who persecute? Aren't we talking about caring for one another? I'd like to think no one in the church is persecuting one another. If that is happening, please stop.

But I think I can safely say that's not happening. It might seem a little bit out of place, but remember who Paul is writing this to. I'm going to emphasize this a few times. Paul is writing not to an individual, he's writing to a church.

Okay, Kofi, where are you going with that? Real simple. Paul puts this here because the church's role, and when we say the church's role, let's not make that the pastor's role. No, the church's role, your role and my role, is to encourage one another in doing this.

As citizens of God's kingdom, Jesus calls us to find joy in persecution. Remember what he says in Matthew 5? Blessed are those who persecute you for righteousness sake because for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil about you because of me. Be glad and rejoice. Why? Because your reward is in heaven, for that is how they persecute the prophets who were before you.

Jesus calls us to that, but let's be honest, hearing those words and actually living in light of them are two different things, aren't they? It's one thing to hear those words, but maybe it's just me.

Isn't it hard to actually live those words out sometimes? Like, wait, you want me to do what for who? And that's where sometimes we need to help one another in this. Remember when this is being written, this is written in the days of the New Testament.

The church wasn't exactly the most liked entity in the world. Empire-wide persecution hasn't started yet, but there are pockets of persecution, mostly from the Jewish people, as this new message starts to spread.

The church knew what it was to be persecuted by people, and what's the temptation when we are attacked? The temptation is often to respond in anger, in vitriol, in one way. Yeah, let me pause for a moment.

Let's talk about our own situation here in America for a second. I think we can all agree that Christianity is becoming increasingly unliked in our culture. We've kind of moved from a world where people were neutral towards Christianity, or even saw some positive benefits, where people generally do not like Christianity.

Just yesterday, I was scrolling through that great cesspool that is Twitter, and I saw a tweet from someone where they were complaining that, I was in my house enjoying my Saturday afternoon, and Christians knocked on my door trying to tell me about Jesus.

How dare they? And they actually used the phrase, the privilege that Christians have in this culture. I'm an atheist, I could never get away with that. I saw it, and I was like, you mean like all of the atheist YouTubers and podcasters who take every opportunity to attack Christians, every chance they get?

You mean like the guy from my side of the pond, Richard Dawkins, who still has a job at Oxford? Okay. For a moment, I thought of all the really biting ways I could respond, and I had to remind myself, hold on Kofi, hold on Kofi, you'll get to do that.

For some Christians, the way that they've sought to answer what they see as an increasing persecution of Christians is self-preservation. Whether it's a political means, you hear people talk about this whole thing of Christian nationalism, that's a whole other debate for another time.

Let me just tell you this much, I don't see that in the Bible. I don't. But when you talk to a lot of these people, as I talk to a lot of them, it's very clear self-preservation is the thing here. It's like, I want to ensure that I live in a culture where I am not persecuted.

News flash, you're going to be persecuted as a Christian, so you need to think about your response now before it gets really bad and you don't have any time. We don't respond in anger and vitriol, we don't respond in self-preservation.

How do we respond? Well, we respond graciously. We bless those, we speak well of, or we wish well of those who persecute us. We don't curse them, speak evil of them, we bless them. We respond the way that Jesus responded when he was persecuted.

So remember what Jesus says, not Jesus, excuse me, what Peter says about Jesus, 1 Peter 2 21. In fact, this one I want you to see. Turn there with me. 1 Peter chapter 2. This one I want you to see with your own eyes.

1 Peter. Hebrews, James, 1 Peter in your New Testament. 1 Peter in chapter 2. Beginning in verse 21, Peter's talking to slaves in households about submitting to their masters, not only to the good ones, verse 18, but also to the cruel.

And he gives a foundation for how and why you should do this in verse 21. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21. Peter says, for you were called to this. To do what? To endure suffering knowing it brings favor with God, verse 20.

You were called to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not insult in return.