I'm really excited to be here with you this morning and get to share from this passage. You know, our family last night had an awesome dinner with Dick and Sheila Orkett. They were kind enough to come over. As many of you know, Chrissy recently had surgery. And they brought us a meal last night and stayed and enjoyed it with us. And Sheila said to me this morning, she goes, I forgot you were preaching today, Scott. We wouldn't have stayed so late. If we had remembered, I said, well, we had such a good time. Dick got into telling stories about what life was like in Alamance County decades ago and the things that he learned as a young man in terms of, particularly in just interracial relationships and how he was growing in that area during that time and really leading the county. The group of people he was with were leading this county in that. And he went on and on. And finally, about 1 or 2 AM, I think he left. I encourage you to, I wish everyone could have heard it. I'm so glad my boys got to hear that story. So I share that. So if I lay an egg today, it's Dick's fault for staying too late last night. But we were really, really glad that they came. Let me get to the right passage here. You know, America has had a distinguished run as a country whose culture is, by and large, cozy to Christianity. Even though we've come to expect little resistance in living out our Christian faith here in America, we're not entitled to it always being the case. Most genuine followers of Christ alive today, and in fact, most genuine followers of Christ throughout the history of humanity, have lived in a situation where their culture stood firmly against the values and virtues of what it means to be a Christ follower. Now we're beginning to observe that and sense that here in our country. America's joining other countries increasingly, it seems, that having a mainstream culture that's intolerant and even opposed to Christian ideas and ways. According to a May 2017 Gallup poll, for the first time in America's history, more people view the Bible as a secular book of fables, stories, and history as opposed to the literal word of God. That's 26% to 24%. First time in the history of our nation that most people have not thought that the Bible was the word of God. And although it's not guaranteed, certainly we are trending away from biblical understanding and lifestyle. And although that's not guaranteed to continue, it is on the rise. So it's something we should prepare ourselves for increasingly. But yet, I want you to understand that things are still much better here in America than what they are in most other places. In fact, what you can describe as the way Christians are beginning to be treated here can best be described as unfriendly or impolite, as opposed to strict opposition or even persecution. Case in point, contrast the case recently of a pastor in California. who in the last year and a half was acquitted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. So this case got appealed up because he was arrested for reading his Bible out loud on the sidewalk in front of a DMV in California, and the police arrested him. And he was charged with a misdemeanor in the Court of Appeals in California. dismissed that case eventually. But contrast that with the case at about the same time that was decided in Pakistan of two Christian Pakistani brothers who in 2010 uploaded anti-Muslim content to a website that they operated. They were arrested in 2014 and just in the middle of last year, after being in prison for four years, they were sentenced to death for uploading anti-Muslim content. a website. Contrast that with believers in North Korea who genuine believers are often imprisoned or forced into hard labor camps doing really hard physical work from sunup to sundown and even longer day after day after day simply because they identify as Christians. And in fact just less than a month ago I read an example of five believers, three guys and two girls, who in the middle of the night on Christmas night filed into a women's latrine at one of these labor camps, lit a candle, and quietly worshiped God together for fear of their life, but yet they felt it was important to come together and still worship Christ. They had to make sure no one followed them there. And if you never went into a latrine in a third world country, then you don't fully understand the environment that they chose or went to to worship Christ that night. Compare that to Somalia, where the stated goal of the Muslims that are in control of Somalia is to eradicate all Christians from their nation. If you're suspected of being a Christian, you can even be murdered just on the suspicion of it, and there will be no penalty for the person who takes your life. Or in Afghanistan, which is a country where most jobs with a livable wage there are off limits to Christians. They're forced to do the servant tasks where they can't even make enough to support their family and a decent lifestyle over there in many instances. And if you're a Christian woman or a child, you can be lawful targets of physical or sexual abuse without penalty by your perpetrator. Or in parts of Nigeria right now where children are being denied the opportunity to attend school simply because they're Christian. So I want you to understand how things are in our country are not nearly as bad. as what they are in many other places, but it's new for us. The experiences that we're facing, the culture that we're facing, the climate that we're facing is a new experience for us, and we should prepare ourselves to thrive in it, just like our brothers and sisters in other countries are thriving in their situations that are even much worse. Throughout history, Christians lived in mostly hostile environments to their customs and belief. In fact, the entire New Testament is framed around a pagan, Roman government that had control, had the empire, and constantly limited Christian experiences and expressions. So what we read was written in a different environment than what we've enjoyed in our country. So this passage, I think, I'm just gonna talk about three different points that Peter brings out, and you know, wherever you live, these are principles that you can apply when you live in a culture that is either dead set against you or is trending like here in America to be opposed to Christian values. The first that we'll look at today is that suffering for doing good gets God's attention. The second is that we are to rise above the culture with our good conduct. And lastly, we're to inform the culture with a spoken defense. All right, suffering for doing good, it gets God's attention. Definitely the big idea of this passage is that God has a special awareness for those who suffer for doing good or those who return good for evil. It's expressed by Peter here in this passage at least three times. First is in verse nine, if you'll notice, it says, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. What struck me about that, the way Peter phrased that is the word, or the phrase that we were called to this. Now if you're called to something, that means you're summoned, commanded, or requested to do something. God has called us to bless in the face of evil. And he's promised us a blessing. You know, it's easy for us to do something or to bless somebody when they've done a kind thing. It was very easy last night for us to express thanks to Dick and Sheila for bringing that meal over. It was natural, it was easy. And so when we did that, it was sincere. But how difficult, how is it when somebody reviles you to return kindness to them? Second instance is in verse 14. It says, but even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Again, Peter says a second time that those who suffer for doing the right thing, for living righteously, there's a blessing that God has for them. The last instance is in verse 17. It says, for it's better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Now, in the middle of this passage is a quotation from a psalm, Psalm 34. It even says in verse 12 that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, his ears are open to their prayer. So he's paying attention to how we respond and how we live our lives. Peter Relais, I think, describes here two ways in which we suffer for doing good. The first is when someone behaves in a hostile way to us, we have an opportunity to respond with kindness. The natural response when faced with evil is to retaliate. That's normal. We don't have to look very far. We don't have to go outside of our own households for those of us with multiple children to watch this play out, especially when they're very young on a day-to-day basis, right? Somebody insults me, I'm gonna insult them back. Somebody hits at me, I'm gonna hit them back. That's our natural reaction, and it's an attitude, unfortunately, that's dominating our current political climate right now in our country. But it's not a new attitude. In fact, it goes on quite frequently throughout even in our country and previous generations and around the world. You know, the largest conflict in Africa right now is in the Congo DRC. We used to be Zaire, and the Congo DRC right now is a country where people are competing for control of it, for power of it. It has an estimated $24 trillion worth of natural resources, mainly in the form of minerals, diamonds, jewels, other natural resources. And so people are competing for it. And since 1997, when the conflict began most recently, six million tribal folks that lived in the Congo DRC have been murdered. And it's all conflict within their own country, their own nation. They're all competing. One faction rises up and has power for a little bit, and what do they do? They spend as much time as possible protecting that power. And so that means eliminating the opposition. And so militias try to make agreements with governments. And so you're seeing this play out. right in front of us on a world stage. What is not natural though is withholding your desire to retaliate when you've been insulted or attacked. It's unique when somebody reviles you. Now that word revile means just to criticize you in an abusive way. It's unique when somebody reviles you to not match them by criticizing them in return. Look at how many times in the Gospels The gospel writers go to great lengths to talk about Jesus' response when he was faced with opposition. Even, you don't have to look further than just the scene of the cross, the night of the cross, or the night of Jesus' arrest and the trial, and then the next day with his crucifixion to see this. We see that when they came to arrest him, And one of his disciples pulled out his sword and cut off one of the soldier's ears. Jesus restored it. He healed it completely, right? We see it when the guards are there and they're mocking him and insulting and slapping him, and Jesus doesn't return anything. We see it when he's on trial and witnesses are coming in and they're lying and they're slandering. the character of Jesus and saying that He did these things that He didn't do just to try to incriminate Him and He didn't return like for like. What an example He set for us. God knows the challenge it is to our old nature to do good in the face of evil. The Psalms are filled with the idea that those that do evil in the world seem to immediately be rewarded for it, while those who do good have to wait a really long time to see their reward. Yes, twice in this passage, Peter promised a blessing, but he didn't say when we would get it. In fact, most of the time, we have to wait a long time for it. There is truth to that, as many of the psalmists have indicated in their writings. In fact, there's plenty of examples where the blessing that we will receive for this, we may not realize on this side of heaven. The second aspect of this description that Peter talks about in this passage about suffering for doing good is just that when we live normally, when we live, if we're trying to follow Christ, going about our normal activities, living righteously in the world, we can still be met with evil. There are times when we do a good, decent, normal activity or deed and we're going to get treated with contempt for doing that. But the way of the cross means being willing to suffer in situations where you shouldn't have to suffer. Peter says we've been called to that in one sense. The lifestyle following Christ is in direct opposition to the ways of the world and many times the world will make us suffer for it. Consider two recent examples in our own country that have happened in the past two or three years. One is coach, Joe Kennedy, who was a high school football coach in the state of Washington. And so he had the audacity to join players at the 50-yard line and kneel in prayer at the end of the game. And the school system said, because he was, as a coach, representing the school system, he wasn't allowed to do that. So they suspended him. And his case went out in courts, but they never took him off of that suspension. So when his contract was up, he was dismissed. He never got to coach again, at least in the state of Washington in the public school system. Consider recently, many of you might be familiar with this, Kevin Cochran, who used to be the fire chief in Atlanta. If you'll remember, he's been fired in the past two years because he self-published a book supporting traditional marriage. Officials in the city of Atlanta forced him out from being the fire chief of the city of Atlanta because of something he did in his personal time and on his personal dime to support the message of the cross. God informs us in this passage that we're going to obtain a blessing when we suffer for good or when we bless those who revile us. We may have to wait for it, but eventually his blessing will overcome or overwhelm the pain of our unjust suffering. He understands best the great challenge it is for us to love others when we've been wronged. And when we do love others, yes, we are loving them for their own sake. But what's beautiful about this passage is it tells us there is a benefit for us when we love others in a difficult situation, or when we've been faced with evil. there's a blessing that God has for us because he's paying attention and he's aware and It's never wrong to chase after God's blessings. Why would we want to chase? Why would we not sorry? Why would we not want to chase the best blessings which come from God even if we have to wait a long time to receive them? Now there's another reason why we've been called to bless in the midst of evil and because our blessing in the midst of evil has a tendency to diffuse a hostile situation. Returning good for evil is perhaps the most powerful witness we can make for the reality of Christ. A soft answer really does turn away wrath. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. That's Proverbs 15, 18. So when we bless those who strongly come against us, It is an unnatural and it's a graceful response. And to the objective onlooker, they're gonna take notice. They have the opportunity to take notice. Not that they'll notice every single time. But it will make a difference. Perhaps they'll see in our response a divine response as we reflect the character of Christ positively to a watching world. So suffering for doing good gets God's attention in a way that produces a future blessing from Him to us. Second thing I think Peter highlights in this passage or emphasizes is the importance of us to rise above the culture with our good conduct. So it's important here to understand Peter's not calling us to chase suffering. He's calling us to do good deeds. And as we act kindly, as we live kindly, suffering inevitably will follow. It's always been the normal course of human history for one man to slander, degrade, bully, disrespect, and even harm his neighbor. The forms change from generation to generation, but the attitudes of the heart and the intent of those actions have been consistent really from Cain and Abel's experience forward. Peter calls us as Christ followers here to behave differently than the cultural norm. He gives us some specifics on how we can be kind or do good to our neighbor. The first encouragement is to have a unity of mind. He says at the very beginning, finally all of you have unity of mind. As it becomes less accepted here in our country to be Christian, our church Corporate church here in America, that's all of us, need to grow in our unity. We need to spend a lot less time publicly arguing over in-house matters and a lot more time working together to help those who are broken. It's certainly time, it's past time for us to put to rest arguing over or declaring the things we don't like about other churches or other denominations. Jesus dedicated a lot of his final recorded prayer here on this earth. You can read it in John chapter 17, but a lot of that prayer was dedicated to him expressing his desire for unity among his followers. If you go and count, I think it's no less than three or four times that Jesus said, I pray that they may be one, they being us, as the Father and I am one. Because when we are one, he says, it will show the world that he is real. In many ways, it remains an untapped power source to take diverse believers, that is, believers who look different from one another, who think differently from one another, who have different preferences from one another, who see the world from slightly different points of view, and for us to come together under the banner of Christ and serve Him. That's glorious. But Peter also uses the term here, brotherly love, to express a similar thought to that of having unity of mind. When we spend energy loving our brothers in Christ, we draw closer to them. We become more aligned with them. Years ago, I remember this has been 10 years ago or longer, I remember I used to have conversations even with the same individual, co-worker at the time, and we would frequently find ourselves centered on discussions talking about the downfalls of the seeker-sensitive church movement, okay, and things we didn't like about that. And I just remember being convicted by God to stop doing that because I realized that There's really just two sides out there. There's those who are for God and there are those who are against God. So why do I need to spend my energy and time criticizing my teammates, my brothers and sisters? Instead, my time would be better spent finding ways to bring our common love for Christ, even if we have differences of thought in what that looks like, but to bring our common love for Christ to the surface. Peter also uses the term here sympathy and tenderhearted. Now, of course, yes, once again, we're to behave in a sympathetic and tenderhearted way towards those who are in the church, but I interpret this primarily to be directed to those who are outside of the church. When a culture is crude, selfish, and destructive, we as Christians should be kind, selfless, and benevolent. Consider what's happening in China right now. China has had different seasons in the past couple decades as their church has exploded. They've had different seasons where the government of China has really cracked down on the church movement, the real church movement in China. Now, for those that don't know, there's two different types of churches in China predominantly. There's one that's a government-sanctioned church, and so the government controls that. and they actually influence, they tell the pastors to actually change the word of God. They've altered the Ten Commandments so that if you read the Ten Commandments that are publicized in this church, it'll be much different from what you've read in their Bible. But it's to suit what the government's agenda and the government purpose is. Then there's a real genuine followers of Christ. They might be labeled, you might have heard them as the house church movement or the underground church movement in China, and it's growing leaps and bounds. And one of their leaders was recently arrested And before he was arrested, he wrote an open letter, and he gave it to his friends. And he said, if I ever disappear, I want you to publicize this letter. And so it's publicized on the website Open Doors. I encourage all of you to go and read the letter in its entirety because it's really stirring. It's really powerful. But let me just read you just a few sentences from this pastor. His name is Wong Lee, and he's been recently arrested. In fact, In some of the provinces in China right now, police have been given daily quotas for how many Christians they're supposed to be arresting right now in certain provinces. But Pastor Wang Li was recently arrested, and so his friends released this open letter, and this is what it says, part of it, what it says in the letter. The calling to follow Christ also requires me to violate all human laws that violate the Bible and God in a nonviolent form, in peace and patience. Christ, my Savior, also asked me to joyfully bear all the costs of transgressing evil laws. But this does not mean that my personal and church disobedience is a political act in any sense of activism or civil disobedience, because I have no intention of changing any of China's systems and laws. As a pastor, the only thing I care about is the disobedience of my faith, the shock of sinful humanity, and the testimony of the cross of Christ. As a pastor, my disobedience is part of the gospel mission. Then he said this, the great mission of Christ requires our great resistance to the world. The purpose of resisting is not to change the world, but to give witness to another world. All actions of the church are efforts to prove to the world the true existence of another world. Love those last two lines. The purpose of resisting is not to change the world, but to give witness to another world. And all actions of the church are efforts to prove to the world the true existence of another world. Finally, and probably most importantly when it comes to our conduct, all of our actions should be based in humility. In humility, our goal is to testify to Christ and the reality of his external kingdom, I'm sorry, and the reality of his eternal kingdom in an attractive way. So it's not time for us to grab the bullhorn here in America and say we are a Christian nation and therefore we're entitled to it always being a Christian nation. So quit trying to threaten us quit trying to stop us from living out how we are used to living out. We can still follow Christ even as the culture changes. So let's all stop being surprised when people who've rejected God and the authority of his Bible act towards us as if they really have rejected that. We can be humble in our response and it will impact them greatly. Finally, we're to inform the culture with a spoken defense. So we don't just live in a way that glorifies Christ, but we also converse and speak and proclaim in a way that glorifies Christ. Verse 15 says, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. We have to live our lives, as we live our lives, we need to be able to explain why we live the way we live. We have to be able to explain why we believe the way we believe. The best way to prepare ourselves to give reasons for why we live that way is to grow in our familiarity with the biblical principles that shape our attitudes and behaviors. So of course this means, first and foremost, reading your Bibles. But I know you don't need another person to stand up front and say, you should be reading your Bibles. So at the risk of y'all tuning me out, I do want you to understand, though, there is a real motivation for us to read our Bible, especially as our culture changes. There's a real motivation for us to do that so that we can better explain to others the reason for the hope that lives within us if we belong to Jesus. It's not enough for us to rely on our pastors to be able to explain it, or our elders, or our Bible study leaders. Children, it's not enough for you to rely on your parents being able to explain why you follow Christ. We have to be able to explain for ourselves. And so the challenge is we live in times where people are unfamiliar with the Bible. And yes, we would expect that if our culture was dominated by folks who claim not to be Christians. But it doesn't help matters. that still the majority of the people in this country identifies born-again Christians, and that 80% of those born-again Christians believe that the phrase, God helps those who helps themselves, is a verse in the Bible. We need to become familiar with the Bible. And if you're somebody who struggles with that, you struggle with, you may be, there's a couple different ways to struggle. You may just be struggling with picking it up, period. Or you may be struggling that when you read it, you feel like you don't get anything out of it. And we all go through seasons like that. So don't feel like you're alone. But my encouragement to you would be to start simple and start slow. And if you're looking for a specific place, I would start in Romans. I think Romans is the most complete book in the New Testament on biblical principles or the doctrines of our faith that would guide us. And so I'd encourage you to start in Romans, read a few verses, and then reread them, those same verses, even if it's just a few a day, and think about them. Spend time after that reading time thinking about them. Maybe even consult some respected commentaries, and you can come ask one of the elders if you're looking for commentaries that would do a good job in helping to increase your faith and your understanding of the Word of God. But then try to write those verses out in your own words to help you understand what's being communicated there. Peter's a great example of us for having a reason, for being able to explain the reason for why he believes. You can read the beginning of Acts. In fact, in Acts chapter two, three, four, and five, there's an account of Peter giving a reason for why he believes or why he acted the way he did, right? Starts on the day of Pentecost when the people came and said, these guys are drunk. And Peter stood up and he said, no, these are not drunk, as you would suppose, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel years ago. that on the in the latter days on I'll pour out on my manservant I'll pour my spirit out on on my manservant and maidservants and so Peter was able to explain that to those and many got saved and then the very next chapter when he and John are on the way to the temple to pray and they healed that the the they healed the beggar that was there and so then they were brought forth and and Peter said Okay, if you really want to know why we were brought forth today, I want you to know that it wasn't by us that this man was healed, but it was by faith in Jesus, whom you happened to crucify. That's the thing I like about all those examples in all those chapters. Peter works that in to his audience. He says, because he's talking to mostly the Pharisees and the ruling officials, and he always happens to say, I'm here because of Jesus, whom you crucified. And he puts it on it. But Peter was adept at giving a reason for the hope that lied within him. So as we learn to better give reasons for the hope that's within us, we need to make sure that it's always cloaked in gentleness and with respect. I'm glad that Peter includes that here. Our verbal defenses should always be filled with grace and gentleness and respect to others. It's not a time It's never a time to belittle our listeners with what we think is their ignorance or to display our own arrogance for knowing something that someone else does not know. It's never appropriate to say, I can't believe you didn't know that God helps those who didn't help, that God helps those who helps themselves is not a verse in the Bible. That's not our response, or should it be? Because as right as we think we are, as right as you think you are about something, as right as I think I am about something, we should always present it in a manner that lets the people know that we don't have all the answers. And also lets them know that in certain areas, we may be wrong, especially in areas that aren't specifically covered in the Word of God. Simeon is taking a class on Christian worldview, and one of his assignments was to interview people that he knows well about their worldview and ask him some basic questions about their faith. And he was encouraged to interview folks that don't have the same worldview as himself, as well as others. So over Christmas, we were visited by relatives, and we knew that we'd get along fine with them, and love them dearly, but they have a different worldview than we do, and we know that. And Simeon went into the bedroom with one of his relatives, and it was an hour and a half conversation. They had a great conversation, and he asked them certain questions, and they had back and forth. And one of the questions he asked this relative was, who gets to determine ultimately what's right and wrong? And our relative responded saying, I think the culture gets to determine what's right and wrong. And so Simeon said, okay, if Hitler and the Nazis would have won World War II and their culture told them that killing all Jews and homosexuals was perfectly acceptable, then would that be okay under your perspective? And this relative said, as hard as it is to say and as terrible as it sounds, I'd have to say yes. Now, I respect my relative for saying that because that's, if he's going to hold that, if this relative's going to hold that position, then that's the consistent position. But I guarantee you by his own admission of saying as hard as it is to say and as terrible as it sounds, he's thought about that since that conversation with my son in Simeon's bedroom. I'm thankful for Simeon being able to think on his feet in that way and respond in that way. All right, so let's wrap this up. As we live in an unfriendly culture, remember to do good at all times, especially in the face of evil done to us. Be ready to explain why you're living the way you live in humility and respect. And when they still ridicule us or try to harm us by preventing us to express our faith in Christ, then know that God's paying special attention. And there's guaranteed a sure blessing for us that'll eventually come our way because of our faithfulness. And this blessing's gonna far outweigh and surpass any injustice that's done to us. Because the blessings from God are everlasting and very generous. I want to emphasize one last thing before we close in prayer. Verse 13 says, now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. So as times change here, that's God's message for us. We should have no fear. If things get worse or better, we should have no fear because we're confident in the rewards of God. We need to resolve in our hearts to honor him at all costs. We need to have no fear, nor be troubled, just as Peter has advised us or encouraged us to do, because Christ has overcome the world. Let's pray. Lord God, thank you for this message. Lord, thank you for the hope that's in it. Lord, thank you that you've called us, Lord, to bless those who revile us. Lord, you've called us to live and tenderheartedness and sympathy and compassion and brotherly love, Lord, having unity of mind. Lord, you've caught us to be able to give reasons for why we believe what we believe, to give reasons for why we have hope inside of us, Lord, that we believe in you and trust in you. Help us, Lord, to improve in all of those areas. Help us to do it without fear, to do it without being troubled. Lord, help us to understand or know or hope in the blessings that come when we suffer for doing good. Lord, give us courage to live out our faith in this culture. so that we can give witness to the reality of Your eternal Kingdom. In Jesus' name, Amen.