Transcription downloaded from https://sermon-library.fbcmustang.org/sermons/103592/walking-talking-and-suffering-for-christ/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] If you would, take out your Bibles, open with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll be in verses 8-9 this evening.

[0:17] It's good to be back together with you after spring break.! Many of us were down in Austin for the Passion Trip. Others of you were traveling around various places. Glad to be all back together on this Wednesday night.

[0:28] So 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 8-17 will be our text tonight. When I was a sophomore in high school, there was an event at the high school called Relay for Life.

[0:43] Anyone heard of Relay for Life? Okay, yeah. So it was about cancer research. I don't think it exists anymore because they were embezzling money. But it was about cancer research.

[0:54] And they were raising awareness for cancer research and treatment at this event called Relay for Life. And so what it was, it was an event at the high school football field. Someone from your group was walking the track for like 12 hours or something.

[1:08] So it started at sunset, ended at sunrise the next day. Someone was walking constantly, and somehow that cured cancer or something. I don't remember how it worked. So it was about cancer research awareness.

[1:20] And one of Lacey and I's friends was kind of the student leader of it who put it on, always trying to get us to go. I didn't sign up, but I snuck in and was there somewhat legally and was just walking the track, you know, walking and talking and curing cancer.

[1:37] And I, at some point, got distracted from what we were there for. It was a fun night. You weren't walking the entire night, but someone from your team was. And I got the idea.

[1:48] I was like, you know, it would be pretty fun to go to the top of the bleachers and just like rail slide all the way down. And so I did. And I hurt myself. Not like majorly. Like I didn't tear my Achilles or anything yet.

[2:00] But I just went to the top, rail slide all the way down, most of the way down, and then fell off. Hurt myself. Thankfully, not as badly as I could have.

[2:12] I just hurt my hands really badly. But anyway, then someone was like, hey, do you need like a doctor or something? I was like, no. And they're like, oh, what's your name? And I was like, Joey. Like, you're not on the list. I'm like, yeah, I snuck in.

[2:24] And then I got in trouble. But it's okay. Okay, so we were supposed to be walking and talking, raising awareness for cancer research. I got distracted from that and ended up injuring myself.

[2:35] But it was a fun night other than that. This passage really, 1 Peter 3, 8 through 17, is about walking, talking, and suffering for Jesus.

[2:47] I suffered a little bit at Relay for Life for multiple reasons. But this passage tonight is about walking, talking, and suffering for Christ. And many of the passages we've covered in 1 Peter so far have been primarily theological, pointing us to Christ.

[3:03] In this passage tonight, there are 18 commands. 18 commands given to us. So we need to pay attention. Peter is getting really, really practical here in this passage this evening.

[3:17] So he says in verse 8, Finally, all of you. And so we'll break this passage up into two points. The first one is all of you.

[3:27] A command to all of us. And he says, finally, all of you. So he's talking to all y'all. Everyone in these churches. Everyone he's writing to in these regions.

[3:38] He's addressing the entire Christian community that he's writing to. Now, if you notice, he says, finally. And then goes on to write, like, another half of this book.

[3:49] So finally doesn't mean he's wrapping up this letter. What it does mean is he's bringing this argument to a conclusion. And so if you've been with us the last three times we've met, we've looked at submission and suffering three different times.

[4:04] He's talked to citizens under an unjust government. He's talked to servants who have unjust masters or unjust bosses. He's talked to wives, particularly who have unbelieving husbands.

[4:16] And now he says, finally, I'm done talking to specific groups of people. All of you. All of you. And he says, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

[4:39] He gives us five commands just in this one verse. Have unity of mind. This is really harmony.

[4:50] This isn't calling us to think the exact same things. This isn't calling us to be the exact same people, to just cancel out all of our differences. What this is calling us to is an alignment, theologically, and what we think about Jesus, and how we live our lives together as Christians.

[5:10] Have unity of mind. Don't be divided in what you think. Be unified. And he says, sympathy. Sympathy. Sympathy, literally, this word just literally means feeling together.

[5:23] Sympathy means that when you have a friend going through suffering, you feel what they're going through. When they're going through enjoyable times, when they've got joy, you feel their joy.

[5:36] You are feeling their experiences with them. And this is true friendship. This is true brotherhood and sisterhood in the church. You are looking outside of yourself and not just only being focused on what's good and bad in your life.

[5:51] You see what's going on in someone else's life and you rejoice with them and you weep with them. But you feel the same things. You're feeling together what they're going through.

[6:04] This is a call to caring deeply for each other's joys, each other's sorrows, and each other's needs as well. And this love, this sympathy, is what Jesus has for us.

[6:22] If you remember in Matthew 9, Jesus sees the crowds harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And he felt compassion for them.

[6:34] He felt deeply for them. He loved them. And ultimately, he loved us. He had sympathy for us and gave his life in our place so that we could experience life through him.

[6:50] And he says brotherly love. This is the one that's right at the middle of this list of five commandments. Brotherly love. The word here, you'll recognize, it's Philadelphia.

[7:01] That just means brotherly love. So the city of Philadelphia is a bad example of that. But it means brotherly love. Love for family members. Love for each other that is closer than just, hey, we play soccer together.

[7:15] Like, that's cool, we've got something in common. But we are bound together by Christ. We should feel this kind of love we would have for a family member, for each other in the church.

[7:29] And one of the signs that you believe in Jesus is this kind of warm, affectionate love for other Christians. Some people will say, I'm a Christian, but I can't stand the church.

[7:44] The church is awful. Well, that's not brotherly love. They're not putting that on display. One of the signs that you're a believer is that you have a deep love for other believers.

[7:56] If you say you love Jesus, you should love the people that Jesus loves and died for. Now, sometimes those people are a bit difficult. Sometimes those people can be rude.

[8:06] But there's a deep love that should be there because we see Christ laid down his life for this person. And he says a tender heart. Now, the word he uses for heart here is like, really, if we translate it just directly, it would be like guts.

[8:22] So he's like just tender guts for each other, but that sounds kind of gory. But you think about when you feel nervous, where do you feel it? You feel it in your stomach. When you feel stressed out or when something bad happens, you also feel it in your stomach.

[8:37] And so that's what the Greek speakers would talk about. They're saying, they'd say you feel it in your guts. So we could literally translate this instead of tender heart as saying like a soft stomach.

[8:49] Now, I have a friend who shall remain nameless. Some of you know him, but he's got a soft stomach. He's got a soft-willed tummy. And so much so that he and his wife have something called no spice Saturday.

[9:03] So his stomach is so sensitive to spice and stuff, he's like, I'm just going to cut it out on Saturday so that I don't have any issues on Sunday at church. Okay, he's got a soft stomach. It's okay. But this is the kind of thing that Peter is calling us to towards each other.

[9:22] We should be sympathetic and compassionate towards each other. We should be sensitive toward the needs of each other in the church. We should feel what each other is going through in life.

[9:34] And if you're on the passion trip with us, one of the days, one of the places we served was this children's home for children who had been abused and mistreated. All of them were like 6 to 12, roughly.

[9:49] And so you're here. It's a delicate situation. And it would have stood out to me as a student. It stood out to several of you as students being there, just thinking through some of the things these children would have gone through.

[10:03] There was a 6-year-old girl there who had glasses. I've got a 5-year-old daughter with glasses. And so I'm just looking at her, and I'm like, this was someone's Amelia. This was someone's daughter that they neglected and mistreated and abused.

[10:17] And now she's having to take refuge in this home. That's the kind of gut-level compassion, the gut-level tenderness that Peter is calling us to for each other.

[10:30] That's what you feel when you see suffering. And Peter is saying in the church, we should be marked in our relationships towards each other by having tender hearts.

[10:44] And lastly, he says a humble mind. He's calling us to humility. And humility is really just forgetting yourself to an extent.

[11:00] Paul defines humility in Philippians 2 by saying it's not looking to your own interests, but looking to the interests of others. You're not doing anything out of selfish motives or pride, but you consider others more important than yourself.

[11:16] That's what humility is. And so as we look around the room, as we look around the church, you might be tempted to think, I'm more important than so-and-so.

[11:27] Or they're less valuable to the church than I am. We're tempted to think that way. But Peter calls us to have a humble mind.

[11:40] And we as people, we as believers, can be very prideful in our thinking. We can get so focused on ourselves that we don't even recognize how prideful we are.

[11:51] And pride can ensnare us and entangle us and trip us up in so many different ways. And just one example of that. Anyone ever replayed a conversation in your head and you're like, ah, I should have said that.

[12:03] Yep. So you're thinking through the conversation. You're like, I should have said this. That would have been funny. Or I should have said this. That would have stumped them. So if you're thinking about an argument in particular, and you're thinking back like, man, I should have said this.

[12:14] I should have said that. That when you're replaying an argument in your head, have you ever lost? No. When we replay an argument in our head, it's like, oh, man, I would have dominated that if I had said this.

[12:29] That's just one symptom of how prideful we are. It's just one symptom of how self-focused we can be. But Peter here calls us to have a humble mind, to be marked by humility.

[12:43] And so as we look at these five altogether, how would our church look differently if we were to perfectly obey these commands?

[12:54] How would you look different as an individual if you obeyed these commandments? I think all of our lives would look much different. I think our church would look different than it does currently if all of us were able to perfectly obey these commands.

[13:10] But that's why these commands are necessary, because the church will always be filled with sinners. We are sinners. We've rebelled against God, and we always sin against Him.

[13:21] We have a sin nature inside of us. And so these commands are necessary both back then and for us today. We need to take these things to heart.

[13:34] Is your life out of step with God's Word in any of these areas? Work to fix it. Pray for God's grace to fix it. If you look at verse 8, these commands are really relationships inside the church.

[13:49] So brotherly love, unity of mind, humble mind. These are how we should relate as Christians to other Christians in the church. Verse 9 really shifts to how we should relate to the world outside of us.

[14:02] The world that's outside of the church and mocking the church potentially. Verse 9, he says, Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling.

[14:14] But on the contrary, bless. For to this you are called, that you may obtain a blessing. Peter is calling us to follow the example of Jesus.

[14:29] If you look back at chapter 2, verse 23, where Peter described Christ to us, it says, When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

[14:41] When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. So he says, Do not repay evil for evil, chapter 3, verse 9, or reviling for reviling.

[14:56] And when you're made fun of, when you're mocked, when you're reviled, when you're corrected, it's so tempting to bite back.

[15:06] It's so tempting to say something back that's equally hurtful and equally cutting. That's our natural instinct as sinners, is just to cut back at them. And so what is your temptation when someone makes fun of you?

[15:20] What's your natural instinct? What are the first words on your lips if someone makes fun of you? And I think, if we're honest, it would resort to playground days.

[15:30] Like, you're stupid. Well, you're an idiot. Your mom's an idiot. Just constant name calling, like back and forth. Like, just trying to insult each other further and further. Peter is saying, when you are reviled, when someone does evil to you, do not return it on them.

[15:48] Do not return it to them. It's dishonoring to Christ to behave in that way. That's our natural instinct. Peter is saying, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling.

[16:07] But on the contrary, bless. So Peter doesn't just say, hey, don't insult them back. He doesn't just say, hey, stay quiet.

[16:19] But, he says, when someone makes fun of you, when someone mocks you for your faith in Christ, bless them. Speak well of them. Pray for them.

[16:30] Speak kindly to them. This is so contrary to what our flesh wants. This is so contrary to our natural instincts. But Peter says, you must speak well to and about the people that mock you for your faith in Christ.

[16:48] You need to speak kindly to them. You need to speak kindly about them when they mock you and persecute you for your faith in Christ. And this word for bless is where we get our word for eulogy.

[17:02] And so if you've ever been to a funeral, you've heard a eulogy read. It literally means a good word. It's a good word spoken about the person who's died.

[17:13] And in eulogies, there's never a recounting of all the bad things they've done. It's a positive spin on their life. It's a positive look at their life and their family and their accomplishments and their work and the legacy they're leaving behind.

[17:28] And Peter's saying, don't get caught in a back and forth with people who hate you. Don't go back and forth with people who are doing evil against you. And said, bless them.

[17:42] Pray for them. And Jesus is the perfect example of this. I referenced this a few weeks ago. But when he was on the cross, when he was suffering, when people were reviling him, when people were mocking him and making fun of him, what did he do?

[18:00] He didn't dish it back. He didn't merely just stay quiet. He prayed for them. And he blessed them. He said, Father, forgive them.

[18:13] They know not what they do. And so Peter is not only calling us to suffer like Jesus suffered. He's also calling us to speak in the way that Jesus spoke while he was suffering.

[18:28] And so you should walk for Christ. You should live in these ways that he commands us in verse 8. And even the way you talk should match the way that Christ spoke, even when he was suffering.

[18:41] He says, for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. We've been called to bless those who persecute us.

[18:52] Just like Kagan read from Matthew 5, Jesus said, you are blessed when they persecute you. You are blessed when they slander you, when they utter all kinds of evil things against you on Christ's account.

[19:07] We're called not only to suffer, but to bless those who cause our suffering. And this is so challenging. There are people in our lives that are just constantly problematic.

[19:22] Maybe it's drama. Maybe it's just constant issues they bring up. Maybe it's constant issues they cause. How do you treat that person? How do you view that person?

[19:34] Peter is saying that when evil is done to you, when someone reviles you, you're called to bless them so that you may obtain a blessing.

[19:49] And this blessing comes ultimately from God. We'll come back to that thought in just a few verses. But in verse 10, he quotes the Old Testament. He quotes from Psalm 34 here in verses 10 through 12.

[20:01] And in Psalm 34, Peter is just quoting a little snippet of it. But this entire psalm is about God blessing people when they suffer unjustly.

[20:12] So this entire psalm is really about what Peter is talking to these Christians about. And so he's calling this psalm to help establish his point. It says in verse 10, For whoever desires to love life and see good days.

[20:27] So whoever wants to live a good, long life, listen up. And he gives three commands here. Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

[20:40] Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. So firstly, he says, Not to speak evil and not to deceive.

[20:55] Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. And so really, he's like, Don't talk trash and don't tell lies. That's what he says. If you desire to live a good life in this world and ultimately into eternal life, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.

[21:16] And this tests us. Our tongue reveals what's in our heart. We may say some things sometimes, you're like, Oh man, that slipped out.

[21:28] I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. That was just a gut reaction. But Jesus says that's actually a symptom of a disease that's inside of you. He says in Matthew 12, Out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks.

[21:44] And so the psalmist, by referring to the use of the tongue here, he's really referring to something deeper, which is the problem of the heart. If you speak in a way that's ungodly, if you speak in a way that's evil, if you tell lies, it's not just an issue of your words, that's an issue of what's going on in your heart.

[22:06] And Peter, quoting Psalm 34, says, Whoever wants to live a good life, avoid speaking evil and avoid telling lies. Verse 11, Let him turn away from evil and do good.

[22:19] So it's not just avoiding evil, it's positively doing good. And so our lives as Christians is not passive. Maybe we've been tempted to view our Christian lives like that.

[22:31] Like if I could just lock myself in a room, just me and my Bible, I would be so holy. That's wrong. But we're called to live life together.

[22:42] We're called to pursue Christ together. We're not called to passively lock ourselves away. We're called to actively pursue righteousness and do good together.

[22:56] And number three, he says, Let him seek peace and pursue it. So it's not just doing good, it's pursuing peace with everyone.

[23:09] And Paul says in Romans 12, So far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. And so we're called, even towards those who are reviling us, even toward those who hate us, we're called to seek peace and pursue it even towards those people.

[23:28] Now why do we do this? Does Peter tell us not to speak evil, not to lie so you don't get beat up? Does he tell you to avoid evil so you don't get arrested?

[23:40] Does he say to do these things so that everyone will like you? Verse 12, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.

[23:56] But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.

[24:09] The motivation the psalmist and Peter give us for living a righteous life is because God sees us.

[24:20] Do you live a righteous life? Are you pursuing the righteousness of Christ? God sees you, and he hears your prayers. Is your life marked by sin?

[24:33] Is your life marked by evil and rebellion? God sees you too, and he'll deal with that at the end of time. So Peter's calling us to refrain from reviling in return or doing evil in return.

[24:49] He's calling us to this unity and humility and love, and the motivation he gives is because the Lord's eyes are on his people. The Lord is watching his people.

[25:04] Number two, Peter calls us to suffer righteously. So he gives a command to all of us, number one. Number two, he calls us to suffer righteously in verses 13 through 17.

[25:19] Peter says, Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? I think he's kind of talking in two ways here. I think practically he's saying if you seek what is good, if you desire to live a peaceful and loving life, people aren't going to be hunting you down in the streets most likely.

[25:38] There's a benefit that this kind of lifestyle brings to society that the world will in some cases recognize. But I think he's also talking here in an ultimate sense.

[25:50] If the Lord is watching you, and if you are zealous for what is good, who can hurt you? It's like what Paul says in Romans 8, that if God is for us, who can be against us?

[26:08] Who ultimately can hurt you? Paul thought this way. In 2 Timothy, he's writing this letter to Timothy, and Paul is staring death in the face.

[26:22] He knows he's going to be killed. He knows he's not going to survive that imprisonment. In 2 Timothy 4.18, he says, The Lord will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

[26:38] Paul recognizes, I'm going to be killed, and I'm going to arrive in heaven without a scratch. It's not going to hurt me. I'm going to get there safely. He recognizes that because of Christ, because of what God has done for him, no one can ultimately hurt him.

[26:54] They can end his life. They can torture him. They cannot ultimately hurt him. And Peter, I think, is running in that same lane here. Who is there to harm you?

[27:05] Who is there to harm you if the Lord is watching you? He says, verse 14, But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Suffering isn't automatic.

[27:20] Just because you're a Christian, you won't automatically be persecuted. But it's also not strange for Christians to be persecuted. And we see that all throughout history. He says, If you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

[27:37] Now, he said at the end of verse 9, you may obtain a blessing. Here in verse 14, he says, you will be blessed. So how is it that we'll obtain a blessing?

[27:50] How is it that we will be blessed? If you look at chapter 5, verse 10, Peter spells this out for us. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

[28:16] The blessing will not necessarily be in this life. The blessing for following Christ comes when we see him face to face.

[28:29] And he himself comforts us. He himself restores us. He himself encourages us.

[28:43] That's the blessing that awaits the believer. Regardless of the suffering in this life, regardless of the trials you walk through physically or spiritually, the ultimate blessing will come when you see Jesus face to face.

[28:58] And he himself who has called you will comfort you and establish you forever. He says, at the end of verse 14, have no fear of them, nor be troubled.

[29:15] And again, he's returning to this theme. Who should we fear? Only God. No emperor, regardless of how powerful, no unjust boss or ruler over us, no unbelieving husband will receive our fear.

[29:32] The Lord alone is who we should fear. And so Peter is reminding his fellow Christians of this. Do not fear them.

[29:44] Whether it's the emperor or the governor trying to take your life, do not fear them. Don't be troubled by them. Don't even think about them. Don't be anxious about them. But instead, in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.

[30:02] Honor him as holy. Now Christ is holy. Whether we recognize that or not, Christ is holy. What Peter is calling these believers to is to recognize that in their hearts.

[30:15] honor him in your heart as holy. View him this way in your mind. Christ is Lord. Not the emperor of Rome.

[30:27] Not the president of the United States. Not any dictator that arises in some distant land or in our own country. And in Rome, that is saying, Caesar is Lord.

[30:43] And Peter is saying, don't fear him. Honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy. Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord.

[30:54] Christ is Lord. Not some abusive politicians. Christ is Lord. So honor him. And if you believe this in your heart, if you respond to him this way in your heart, it will change the way you live your life.

[31:07] It will come out in your actions. It will come out in your speech. It will come out in the way you walk through this world. He says, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

[31:25] That's a tough sentence. But Peter is telling us to be ready to share the gospel. Be ready to point people to Jesus. And so Peter's expectation is that the world will see believers and recognize that they are different.

[31:43] The world will see people following Jesus and recognize something is strange about these people. Something is different about them.

[31:54] And Peter even expects these people to ask Christians why they have hope in such a dark world. each year I and the other pastors go to Shepherd's Conference.

[32:06] It's in Los Angeles, California. A couple years ago Michael and I stayed over the weekend to go to church there on Sunday and my wife Lacey and his wife Marcy came out to go to church with us on Sunday.

[32:19] So on Saturday we were in some kind of store. I don't remember the details but the guys and girls had kind of split up so Lacey and Marcy were walking through the section of the store or the mall or whatever it was.

[32:31] And they were just kind of laughing and talking really normal stuff and there was a worker there that said something to the effect of you guys aren't from here are you? And they're like well no we're from Oklahoma.

[32:43] And she said I could tell because you guys are happy. Which is a really sad statement but if you live in Los Angeles I get it. But a really sad statement but she recognized there's joy that I don't see in Los Angeles.

[32:59] There's just something they're happy that they're not from here. And Peter's kind of saying you guys are exiles in this world you don't belong here and so when the world sees you they're going to recognize you're not from here.

[33:11] They're going to recognize that you've got something different going on and so when they ask you why you have joy when they ask you what you have hope in be ready to give an answer. Be ready to make a defense for this.

[33:25] And the word defense sounds super official it's where we get our word for apologetics defending the faith but really Peter's just saying hey whatever situation you find yourselves in maybe it will be in a court maybe you'll just be walking down the street be ready to share the gospel.

[33:42] Be ready to tell people why you have hope. Be ready to give a reason for that. And so are you prepared for that?

[33:52] Are you equipped for that? If you're a believer in Christ you should be ready to share your faith in him. If you need help with that I'd love to help you with that come talk to me.

[34:05] But also this is a huge difference between Christianity and cults. Okay so if you've ever known anyone in a cult you may know something about this but what's true about like their core teachings?

[34:18] Do they go around just like spewing those out? No they're usually held in secret like you've kind of got to be initiated for a couple years before they let you in on the tea. Christianity is not like that.

[34:30] Christianity Peter is saying this is what we believe go be ready to tell people tell everyone tell anyone who asks you tell everyone about it that you can. And so cults will hide teachings because they're usually weird and demonic.

[34:46] Christianity is saying this is what we believe come and consider it for yourself. We'll freely tell you ask us questions about it. Now if you've failed in evangelism before I have several times that's okay keep growing keep learning but be prepared to give a reason for the hope that's in you.

[35:06] He says at the end of verse 15 yet do it with gentleness and respect. With gentleness and respect. I've known some Christians that are not gentle or respectful to people they talk to and it's incredibly off-putting to unbelievers.

[35:23] If you're argumentative or angry or defensive while you defend the faith that's not a good look for Christianity. Peter is saying stay calm be respectful towards the people you talk to give them the reason share the gospel with them but do it with gentleness and respect.

[35:43] Our attitude is very important. how we say things is as important as what we say. Lacey always gets on to me because she says it's not what you said it's how you said it.

[35:56] Anyone ever heard that before? Not necessarily from Lacey but and so if you're talking to your parents and they're like hey take out the trash and you're like okay you said the right thing but it was just the wrong attitude so maybe you've heard that but Peter is kind of saying the same thing like be ready to share the gospel but do it with gentleness and respect towards those people.

[36:20] Verse 16 having a good conscience so that when you are slandered look at how he says when not if you're slandered those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame may be put to shame.

[36:37] Peter calls us to have a clear conscience and our conscience is really the soul reflecting on itself. It's your soul internally knowing yourself knowing your actions and convicting you or giving you peace based on how you've lived.

[36:55] Peter says you need to have a good conscience treat people gently and with respect so that when you're slandered those who are rebuking you will ultimately be put to shame.

[37:08] Keeping a clear conscience. He says verse 17 for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than it is for doing evil.

[37:22] It's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. And so Peter kind of summarizes really the letter here in verse 17 and he says it's better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.

[37:36] It's better to have something wrong happen to you than for you to do something wrong. And we as Christians are called to that. We are called to that. We should be okay with that. That frustrates us in our flesh but Peter is saying it's better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing evil.

[37:54] But notice what he says that if that should be God's will. will. Any suffering we encounter as believers is according to God's will.

[38:09] And that may not seem right to you that may seem frustrating to you but that's incredibly comforting. That should be incredibly comforting to us.

[38:21] Everything that comes our way everything we encounter everything we suffer is according to God's will. And Joseph is a Bible character who recognized this.

[38:35] His brothers sold him into slavery. They sent him to Egypt. When he was in Egypt he had some success for a little while and got thrown in prison because he was reviled. He was falsely accused.

[38:48] But he was freed and rose to power and his brothers came begging for food and he could have very easily returned their evil upon their own heads. He very easily could have reviled them in return for all the pain and suffering he had caused them.

[39:03] But in Genesis 50 verse 20 he tells his brothers you meant this for evil but God meant it for good. This was according to God's will that this happened to me.

[39:15] You sinned against me as God designed for my life. all our suffering is according to God's will. And that may seem a bit scary this provides us ultimate comfort though because he knows what it's like to suffer.

[39:36] Jesus suffered like we do yet he was without sin and gave his life for us. And there are many Christians throughout church history who have given their lives for their faith in Christ.

[39:52] A couple of them are named Perpetua and Felicity. One was a daughter of royalty one was a slave.

[40:06] They were put in prison together for their faith in Christ and they were executed in the Colosseum. As they were walking out to be fed to the lions they held each other's hands during their last moments.

[40:23] What is it that united this daughter of royalty and this slave girl of no means? Christ who suffered for them.

[40:36] They recognized that they were called to walk and talk and suffer for Jesus in the way that he suffered because he had paid for their sins.

[40:49] 18 commands in this passage calling us to live for Christ calling us to talk for Christ in the way we talk to others and in the way we tell others about Jesus calling us to suffer for Jesus in the way that he suffered without reviling in return.

[41:10]  And so let's do that with excellence and let's continue to be a place both as a church and youth ministry where verse 8 is a mark of our fellowship that we have unity of mind sympathy brotherly love a tender heart and a humble mind and by God's grace you guys do this well I'm very thankful for you guys I think our youth ministry is a welcoming and loving place and that's a valuable testimony to the gospel so continue to do that I love you guys and want to support you as you do that let me pray for us our father your son Jesus in his final moments on earth with his disciples said by this the world will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another so father I pray that we as a student ministry and as a church would be marked by this brotherly love we have for each other recognizing that while we sin against each other while we inconvenience each other and wrong each other we as believers have been purchased by the death of your son and because your son loves us because you loved us and sent your son to us pray that we have learned to love each other as you have loved us through your son and it's in his name we pray amen of are an he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he fathers he he he fathers he fathers he fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathersville