11-08-09 When Doing Right Makes Life Wrong

For the past several weeks

we’ve been listening to Peter

as he sums up the main points he’s been trying to share with us in his letter.

And the central theme of that summary passage

was that one of our greatest survival tools

when it comes to being Christian in a pagan world

is found in our choosing to respond to evil with good.

Giving back good for evil

has an impact on those committing the evil against us

that is more powerful than anything else we could do.

OK, our study has brought us to 1^st Peter 3:13

where Peter continues with this same theme.

He says, 1PE 3:13 And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

And he uses that question

to point out the logic

in the approach he’s recommending to us.

He’s simply saying

that even in a totally pagan world

most of the time

doing good brings good results.

Being honest,

showing respect for others,

submitting to the authorities God has place over us,

building a strong, pure marriage relationship,

investing our minds and hearts and time into our children,

doing what we can to reduce the impact of evil on the lives of those around us,

showing kindness,

allowing ourselves to feel compassion for those in pain and doing what we can to reduce that pain,

choosing to make our relationships more important than our possessions,

approaching life with these values

even in a corrupt, pagan world

will bring us respect, appreciation, and genuine friendship in life.

Our world is flooded with jerks -

men and women without values,

people who will use anything or anyone for their own pleasure, or profit, or ego goals.

In fact, it is what we have come to expect from the people around us.

It is not a safe world.

We know that,

and the knowledge keeps us forever on guard.

Which is why what God does inside His people

makes us appear as lights in the world,

and it is what draws people to us.

Don’t you love the way our Lord talks with us

about the kind of life He’s calling us into?

When we come to Him

we bring with us all of our flesh-driven survival techniques

that were the foundation of our lives before we met Him.

But then He begins to talk with us

about who we have become in our spirits.

He calls us His holy ones,

He tells us we are His lights in the darkness,

members of a royal priesthood,

a chosen race,

a holy nation,

a people for God’s own possession.

He tells us we are people who have great dignity

and tremendous value to Him.

And then He talks with us

about the kind of choices we can make each day,

choices that will help reshape our practical daily living

into growing conformity to our true identity.

PHI 4:8 ... whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

That’s Paul telling us

to look for the good that our God has brought into our life

and then calling us to choose to dwell on it.

He’s calling us

to a quality of life

that will put us out of step with the society in which we live,

but absolutely, perfectly in step

with the Creator God who has brought us to Himself.

And do you know what Paul says next,

immediately after giving us that call to a higher life?

This may not affect you the way it affected me when I finally heard what he was saying,

but I want to share it with you.

The next thing Paul says is,

PHI 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.

Now, if it would have been our Lord who’d said that

it would not have impacted me so much

because, of course, His example is perfect in every way.

But this wasn’t Jesus who wrote these words,

it was Paul - just a man,

a man who came to Christ immersed in inner corruption

just the way we do.

And yet here he is saying that we can look closely at his life

and then model ourselves after him.

Have you ever done that?

Have you ever said to a young person,

“Don’t be afraid to watch my life closely and follow my example. I will not lead you astray.”

Far more often

we hear people saying, “Don’t follow my example. I didn’t do it right. I hope you’ll do far better than me.”

But when I saw those words of Paul,

I mean when I really saw them and heard what he was saying

it stirred within me both a hope and a longing.

It gave me the hope - the certainty that there is a way to approach life

that will allow our lives to become excellent role-models for those who come after us.

And it created within me a longing to be that type of man -

the type of man who can say to the next generation,

“Follow me and I’ll get you where you want to be. I’ll tell you the truth about life,

and about yourself,

and about your God,

the truth that will set you free.

I will never use you, never intentionally hurt you, never knowingly mislead you.

You can follow me without fear.”

Those are the kind of goals

that God’s Spirit creates within His people,

goals that stand in stark contrast

to the tacky little success or fame or popularity goals given to us by our society.

Maybe I can say best what I’m trying to say here this way.

One man will look in the mirror and say to himself, “I’m a success!”

But the success he has achieved

leaves him feeling empty and alone

and his spirit still aches.

Another man will look in the mirror and say to himself, “I have done what my Lord asked me to do.”

And even though most of the world

will not even notice him,

he will be at peace with himself

and the impact of his life will be felt for generations to come.

I do love the way our God talks with us.

I love the way He offers us life goals

that will never fail us,

never bring us disappointment

no matter what may be happening in the culture around us.

And when Peter says, “And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?”,

he is simply reinforcing

the sense of security that can only come

from knowing we have made right choices in a very wrong world.

But having said that,

Peter then goes on

to talk with us about those times

when choosing right doesn’t work out at all the way we’d hoped.

And so Peter says,

1PE 3:14-16 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

There are times in every Christian’s life

when choosing right feels all wrong,

times when choosing right

makes life more difficult,

times when doing right intensifies our pain.

At the time Peter wrote these words

some of his readers were facing the most extreme consequences for their right choices.

Some of them were facing intense hostility

from their extended family members

and from the society around them

because of their commitment to Christ.

And at times

some of them even faced death

because of their faith in Christ.

And that type of extreme persecution

has been woven throughout history for the past 2000 years.

We in America like to believe

that society has progressed far beyond such hideous hatred,

but there is a time coming

when the world as a whole

will once again target the people of God as the great enemies of good

and do all they can to rid the world of Christians.

I think I’ve mentioned to you in the past

the special place God has reserved in His plan

for those who are killed because of their commitment to Him.

There is a fascinating passage in the 6^th chapter of Revelation

describing a scene that John witnessed in heaven.

He writes,

REV 6:9-11 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

Those throughout history

who have been killed as a result of their commitment to Christ

truly are the ultimate symbols

of the depth of evil within society.

It is injustice to the extreme.

And here in this scene John witnessed in heaven

we have the victims of that injustice

crying out to God, asking Him how much longer they must wait

before their blood is avenged.

And I do love Christ’s response to them in this scene.

He gives each one of them a white robe,

symbolic of them being clothed in His righteousness,

and then He assures them

that their blood will be avenged,

that all the scales will indeed be balanced,

and that the evil that led to their deaths will be removed from this world.

But he tells them to wait just a little longer

until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

And what He’s telling us

is that the hands on God’s clock

do not tick off seconds or minutes or hours,

they ticks off martyrs.

And when the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 are finally killed

their deaths complete the number of martyrs needed

to trigger the return of Christ and the establishment of His righteous Kingdom on this earth.

That’s not the way we would have done it, is it?

If we would have had God’s clock ticking off something other than minutes,

I think we would have had it ticking off the number of people who come to Christ.

But with God

it’s not those who come to Him

but rather those who are killed because of Him

that most accurately captures the heart of this phase of history.

It’s a fascinating glimpse into the future,

but to me it’s an even more fascinating glimpse

into the true nature of this world system under Satan’s regime.

There is a thin veneer on the outside of society

giving honor to Christ as a “great prophet” and religious leader,

but just under that veneer

there is an all-out warfare raging against Him,

against His truth,

and against those who proclaim it.

And even though we currently live in a little bubble of society

in which there is little open hostility against Christians,

still there are times in every Christian’s life

when doing right and following the leading of the Spirit of God within us

makes life much harder for us

than it would otherwise have been.

And when Peter says, But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed...,

he is telling us that there will be times in every Christian’s life

when doing right makes life wrong.

Some of what Peter is talking about here

are the natural consequences of being honest in a corrupt world.

When you fill out your taxes or your expense account reports or your time cards or labor charges honestly

it costs you more.

But having said that,

I also want to say

that nobody has ever chosen to handle money God’s way

and ended up regretting it.

God’s commitment to meet our needs

as we trust Him and His principles in our life is absolute.

But there is far more going on in Peter’s comments

than just basic honesty and integrity.

Because the real heart of righteousness

is not just choosing basic honesty,

it’s choosing to act in love toward the people around us.

And most of the time

choosing to act in love makes life harder.

Sometimes it means you choose to place someone else’s needs above your own,

sacrificing your time,

or your resources,

or your freedom,

or giving your life for them.

And the hardest situations and the highest expressions of love

are the ones in which the other person never even knows what you’ve done,

or they don’t care,

or they cannot or will not express gratitude.

Such choices are always true suffering for the sake of righteousness,

and as such Peter tells us we are blessed.

Frequently that blessing does come to us

in the form of the gratitude expressed by the one we’ve chosen to love,

but even when that doesn’t happen

there is something good that happens within us

when we have chosen to do what’s right knowing it will not be without cost to ourselves.

It changes us,

giving us peace with ourselves

when we know we have not turned our back on what our Lord has asked us to do.

Peter tells us that part of our survival process

when we are making hard choices of righteousness

is that we sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts...

Do you know what that means?

I think it means we openly reconfirm to our King

that we are doing what we are doing because of our commitment to Him.

It is for Him most of all

that we have made the choices we have made

and we know that He alone can and will give us the wisdom and the strength to follow through.

It means we say to our Lord,

“OK, here’s the deal, Lord - You got me into this and You’ve got to bring through.”

And He’s just fine with that, you know.

Several weeks ago I made a comment in one of my talks

about the way in which the Shepherd gets His sheep safely home.

And following that talk

I was asked what that means.

Does it mean that we will not die some hideous death

or that He will deliver us from pain and suffering here on this earth?

Well, the next thing Peter says

makes it clear that this isn’t the arrangement our God has made with His people.

1PE 3:17-18 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Clearly there are times when it is indeed God’s will

that we suffer for doing what’s right.

But if we are honest about life on this planet

there are really only two possible options on the table.

Either we suffer for doing what’s right

or we suffer for doing what’s wrong.

What we’re all looking for, of course,

is option number three

in which there is no suffering at all.

But I’m afraid it’s not available to us at present.

I’m certainly not suggesting that this life we live is only suffering

or even mostly suffering,

but I am saying it is a part of every Christian’s walk with the King,

and if anyone ever tries to tell you

that physical or emotional pain is an indication

that you are in some way outside the will of your God

they are absolutely wrong.

There are times when we do indeed suffer according to the will of God.

But when I said that the Shepherd gets all of His sheep home safely

I meant that no matter where we go

He goes with us,

and His rod and His staff protect us and guide us,

and He does indeed restore our souls again and again,

and He never leaves us and never forsakes us,

no matter how determined we are to wander,

until He sets us down forever ...in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy...(Jude 1:24).

Quite a phrase, isn’t it... in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.

How can that be?

How could He ever bring us into His presence blameless?

Well, He can because we are.

The debt really was paid, my friends...in full...forever.

And the great joy will be unavoidable

because at last we’ll see it was all true - we really are His

and He really is ours forever.

And that, of course, is exactly what Peter is saying to us, too.

1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit...

...the just for the unjust...

And my favorite part in that verse

is that phrase in order that because of what comes after it.

Why did He do it?

He did it in order that He might bring us to God.

He did it because He really does want us there with Him,

in the presence of God the Father.

He wants you there with Him

and He is well able to get you there.

Well, we’re stopping Peter’s letter in mid sentence,

but we’re about out of time for the morning

so we’ll pick up our study here again next week.