WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.200 Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:16.079 We're a typically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.239 You can learn more about us at Newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.160 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:32.000 Our second reading is from the book of 1 Peter, chapter 3, verses 8 to 22. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:54.640 Finally, all of you, having unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind, 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. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:03.920 For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.200 Let him turn away from evil and do good. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.799 Let him seek peace and pursue it. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:16.719 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.640 But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:25.680 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.879 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:46.560 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:58.480 Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:05.359 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:33.039 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:54.560 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:56.240 The word of the Lord. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:07.120 Bless, for to you, for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:08.639 Let's pray. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:22.080 Lord Jesus, we have the privilege of walking a mini Emmaus road every time we gather on a Sunday morning. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:42.879 To have you come among us by your Holy Spirit, to have our hearts burn within us as we open up your scriptures, and we hear the hope of the gospel proclaimed, and Lord, to recognize you in the breaking of the bread as we come to your table to receive your grace once again. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.599 So, Lord Jesus, would you stay with us? 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.680 Would you speak to us? 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.759 Would our hearts be ready to receive your gifts of grace this morning? 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.599 And in Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:54.479 Amen. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:56.319 Please be seated. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:12.719 Well, I've entitled uh the sermon this morning, How to Be Blessed and Stay Blessed Even When Life is the worst. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:23.360 I suspect if you're here with us this morning, or if you're tuning in online, you are interested in God's blessing. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.040 Because who isn't? 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.600 We want our lives to be blessed, don't we? 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:29.680 Certainly better than the alternative. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.079 And so we ask the question: where is God's blessing? 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:35.360 Where can I find it? 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.199 What does it take to secure it? 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:40.000 That's probably something like what we're interested in today. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.560 We know it has something to do with perhaps God's word or God's church, right? 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:45.680 God's sacraments. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:51.120 We want to go to where God's blessing is because we want our lives to be blessed. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:59.040 Some of us are interested in pursuing God's blessing, perhaps, others of us feel kind of jaded by it. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:07.120 Perhaps some of us have counted on God's blessing at an important point in life and felt like God did not come through for us. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.600 And it leaves us a little skeptical about this whole blessing business. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:19.199 Maybe we're here this morning out of a sense of duty and obligation, but our hope for blessing is far spent. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:37.279 Peter is writing his letter to faithful exiles, Christians, making their pilgrimage to the celestial city, to eternity, and he is writing to them as though they live a blessed life, which is kind of a strange thing when you think about it. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:42.560 If you are truly blessed, would we not expect that you wouldn't feel like an exile? 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.360 I mean, surely life is only ever on the increase, only ever on the incline. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.800 You would feel more and more secure, more and more at home, surely, if you're feeling blessed, wouldn't feel like the worst. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:01.279 But Peter wants us to understand what makes blessing truly blessing. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:07.759 What does God have in mind when he promises us his blessing and when he applies it to our lives? 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.600 Is blessing merely good health? 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:17.279 Is it merely material prosperity or financial wealth? 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:19.279 Is it luxury and comfort? 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:23.759 I mean, these are good gifts that we receive from God, don't get me wrong. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.319 But is that what blessing amounts to? 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:32.560 A better and better life if I do the things God wants me to do, He's going to provide for me the things that I want? 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:48.959 Peter wants us to catch a fuller and deeper vision of what blessing really is, the kind of blessing we can hold on to as the most secure thing in our lives, even when life feels like it's the worst. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:07:06.639 Sarah Phillips gives us, I think, a very biblical definition of blessing when she says that blessing is an extending of God's grace, which means that blessing begins not when we receive all sorts of material comforts and luxury goods. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:17.920 Blessing begins when we put our trust in Jesus and when we know that He has forgiven us our sins and draws us into the very life and love of God. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:28.000 Blessing is an extension, an increase of God's grace in our lives that leads us through the cross and into glory. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.920 So if we want to ask the question, how can I be blessed? 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:37.040 How can I be truly blessed and stay blessed even when life is the worst? 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:46.879 Peter wants us to understand here are three ways we can live into that cruciform blessing of God. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:52.240 Number one, don't revile but practice virtue. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.959 Number two, don't fear but honor Christ. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.680 And number three, take the cross to heart. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:12.800 If we want to know God's blessing, if we want to experience God's blessing and perhaps bless others as we are blessed, then we go to where God works his blessing. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.120 Don't revile but practice virtue. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:17.199 Don't fear but honor Christ. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:20.480 And number three, take the cross to heart. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:30.879 Peter wants us to encounter the real deal when it comes to blessing, not some kind of superficial substitute, which is very easy for me to settle for, by the way. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:44.720 So if you're here this morning feeling burdened and heavy laden, I hope that this is a word of hope and encouragement to you as we realize together how abundantly blessed we are in Christ. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:52.159 And I hope we would not presume, we would not want to trade this true blessing for any other substitute. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.440 Let's understand God's blessing and what it means for us. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:06.879 Let's open up our order of service, open up the scriptures to 1 Peter chapter 3, and dive back into this letter that Peter is writing to faithful exiles like us. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:12.559 Here's the first way we can be blessed and stay blessed, even when life is the worst. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.320 We don't revile, we practice virtue. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:17.519 Verse 8. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:30.240 Finally, Peter writes, All of you, that's all you, the church, who is writing to, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:43.840 Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you are called, that you may obtain a blessing. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:53.919 So Peter has been talking in chapters two and chapters three about what it means to live our lives with honorable conduct in the world that we live in. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.679 We as pilgrims making our way to uh eternity. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:02.399 How is it that we conduct our lives in a way that glorifies God and gets noticed by others? 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.480 Well, we conduct ourselves humbly. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:10.399 And one way we do that, Peter's been saying, is we are subject in the right way to the right sort of authorities, right? 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:22.240 Whether that's towards the state or whether that's the obligations spouses have towards one another, whether that's the obligation we have towards our employers, we are showing forth the character of Christ in all these areas of life. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.679 And now Peter gives us something of a summary statement here. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.440 Five key virtues that kind of tie all of this together. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:33.200 What does it mean to live according to the character and heart of Christ? 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:40.879 Well, we live with unity and sympathy and love and tenderness and humility. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.360 This is what forms the character of a Christian. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:52.799 And Peter wants us to recognize just how different that is, perhaps, from at least I'll say my first inclination when it comes to experiencing mistreatment. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:57.840 The flip side of these virtues is retaliation and reviling. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.279 Did you see that in verse 9? 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.480 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:03.919 That's not theory, is it? 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.440 That's our first instinct. 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:10.559 At least when I experience some kind of hurt, the very first thing I want to do is hurt back. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.320 But Peter's saying that is not the way of a faithful exile. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.080 That's not the way to live as a Christian. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:18.720 As a Christian, we follow Christ. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:29.120 And Christ says, you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:34.399 Friends, I have to think those words are as strange to Jesus' first audience as they are to us today. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:39.600 Because love for the enemy does not come easily, does it? 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:40.879 Right? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:51.759 We are glad to wish well to those who wish us well, but for those who wish our harm, this is what it means to live the blessed life. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:12:02.320 Even in times of mistreatment or suffering, we have the opportunity to show the very heart of Christ to our enemy and to the world. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:07.840 The very heart that's been shown to us while we were still enemies and Christ loved us. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:12.399 The blessed life is less about accumulating material wealth. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:20.559 It's this opportunity to live into and live out the very character of God in the fibers of the world that we are called to live in. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:28.080 And the biblical proof that Peter appeals to is Psalm 34, which he quotes in verses 10 to 12. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.440 And the point of Psalm 34 we can see is this. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:38.559 Let me quote briefly from verse 10 Whoever desires to love life and see good days, you desire to love life, right? 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:40.720 See good days, I desire that. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:42.080 What does that require? 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:51.200 Well, verse 11, let him, let her who desires a good life turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:55.600 And then in verse 12, the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:08.480 Conform your hearts, your attitudes, your actions to God's own character and heart and actions, and we will discover the blessing that God works in our lives, even when God life feels like it's the worst. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:16.559 The good life is not accumulating wealth, it is living out God's own character, because that is life for us. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.879 So how can we be blessed and stay blessed even when life is the worst? 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:41.679 Peter suggests practice virtue, unity, sympathy, love, tenderness, humility, even perhaps especially when life feels like it's the worst, when we're reviled, when we're mistreated, when we're slandered, that is the opportunity for us to experience God's blessing. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.240 Counterintuitive, for sure. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:56.399 It's because in these moments God's grace is cultivating in us a heavenly character that will outlast any earthly hardship that we can face. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:13:59.840 God's working his blessing. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:08.240 Perhaps we're starting to see uh the substance, what the real meat of blessing, more than just superficial uh niceties. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:24.559 Blessing is like blessing is like expelling this sinful cancer and corruption that peels away at the goodness of God's creation and restores God's goodness and purposes in our lives and in the world that we live in. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:26.000 Here's an illustration. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:26.960 I hope it's gonna make sense. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:28.720 I've just been thinking about this a lot. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:43.200 So um I guess my assumption when it comes to blessing for a long, long, long, long time is a little like, you know, God does this supernatural thing where he, you know, he takes an object or he takes a person and he kind of zaps them from on high and lifts them to like a higher plane of existence or something like that. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:47.919 And I just sort of assume this is what it means to be blessed, and that's the kind of blessing I want, right? 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:53.919 And then I read this uh Orthodox priest named Alexander Shmeeman, and that is a great name to say, Shmeeman. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.639 And he's talking about blessing, and he's using the particular illustration of blessing water, right? 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:06.879 We call it holy water, or we, I mean, we say a prayer of blessing over the water when we baptize here in the Anglican Church, right? 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:22.879 And he's praying with this act of or he's talking with this act of blessing, and he's talking about it less in terms of, you know, we're augmenting something to a higher plane of existence, and more like God is exposing the essential goodness and purposes he has for that created thing. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:32.960 We are making manifest what God's will for that has always been, and we are prayerfully um calling into uh, how do I want to put it? 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:38.000 We are prayerfully calling it out into the very purposes that God has always had for it. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.000 Here's how Schmieman talks about holy water. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:40.799 Hope this makes sense. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:51.039 He says, blessing may mean the revelation of the true nature and destiny of the water being restored to its proper function. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:16:00.480 The holy water is revealed as the true, full, adequate water, and matter becomes the means of communion with and knowledge of God. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:02.559 Do you see how blessing is like? 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:11.360 It's like we're removing those impurities and restoring the will and purpose and good ends that God has already had always had for his creation. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:12.879 And for us as well. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:28.879 When we live into the kind of virtue and character that God has always had in mind for us, it's not that we're elevated to a higher plane of existence, so to speak, but we are being we are being uh perfected by grace toward the good that God has always had in mind for us. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:34.159 We are inclining towards the flourishing that God has always had in mind for you and for me. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:39.120 We are living into the grain of God's good creation. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.159 And so what does it mean to be blessed? 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:48.240 Well, it's the extension of God's grace that is restoring us to our essential goodness. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:17:00.399 We live into this when we deliberately practice virtue, which, friends, takes a lot of time and takes patience and takes opportunity and takes asking God for help a lot. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.799 At least it does for me, because virtue does not come like a flick of the switch, does it? 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:13.200 But it also takes a community, a community interested in living into this character and vision of what the Christian life looks like. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:20.079 Friends, as a church family, we have an incredible opportunity to cultivate virtue in one another. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.519 It's part of what we owe one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:36.240 As we pray for one another, as we will each other's good, as we come alongside one another, we are refining each other's characters more and more towards the good that God has always had in mind for us as individuals and as a church. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.039 We are practicing virtue together. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:50.880 But friends, as we practice virtue, we need to do the other thing that Peter tells us, which is we need to make the hard decision and refuse to retaliate and revile. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:55.359 And I know none of us have anything to retaliate about or revile these days. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.519 That's not true, is it? 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.519 You know, I've been thinking about how could I even just start in a small way this week? 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.680 Just reviling a little less. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:10.559 And you know, I gotta think that if there's an easy way to minimize my reviling, I gotta minimize my scrolling. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.079 Good grief. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:18.319 Because we know, you know, right, that your algorithm is not programmed to cultivate virtue in you, right? 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:19.680 You know that, right? 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:30.240 It's programmed to cultivate maximum retaliation and maximum reviling because that's what will keep you scrolling and keep you reposting and keep you commenting, right? 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:38.640 And it will constantly describe those people, whoever those people are, as the enemy that needs to be hated, and it will not increase in us sympathy or love. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:53.440 If we even stopped scrolling a little bit, how about we replace five minutes of scrolling with 30 seconds of prayer for whoever those people are, that we would have sympathy, that we would have the heart of Christ for them. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.880 I wonder what kind of difference that would make in the life of the church. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.480 I wonder what kind of difference the church would make in the life of the world. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:04.480 We need, for goodness sake, to stop scrolling. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.440 And we need to bless others. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:16.240 We need to practice in our actions and our prayers and our attitudes, willing the good, the best for one another and for others. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:29.839 We need to ask the Lord, how can my interaction with this person, my attitudes towards this person increase the extension of your grace into their life and trust that the Lord will lead us in it. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:38.079 Friends, if we want to be blessed and stay blessed, we need to stop reviling and practice virtue for Christ's sake. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:41.119 That's the first thing Peter tells us. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.839 Here's the second thing Peter tells us don't fear, honor Christ. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:51.440 If we want to be blessed and stay blessed, don't fear, but honor Christ in your hearts. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:52.960 Let's look at verse 13. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:58.480 Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:03.839 For even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:12.960 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.000 So verse 13 gives us a general truth, right? 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:18.400 We've touched on this already in chapter two. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:31.039 If we generally do what is good, if we generally try to, if we aim for what's best or what will benefit others, well, generally we're going to incline ourselves towards well-being and away from harm. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.119 But that's not an absolute truth. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.480 It's a general truth. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:40.559 Peter acknowledges in verse 14 that sometimes we do good and yet we still suffer for it. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:51.039 And yet, Peter says, verse 14, even if we do what's good and we still experience suffering, the outcome is the same. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.519 The outcome is for sure. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.640 And the outcome is we will be blessed. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.559 We will be blessed. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:15.039 Whether we experience a sense of increase, a sense of success, a sense of prosperity in an earthly sense, or if we look at life and we feel like I've experienced nothing but diminishment and deficit and failure, it doesn't matter. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.000 The eternal outcome is the same, writes Peter. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.079 We will be blessed. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:28.799 We will know the extension of God's grace in our life through Christ by the cross, by the resurrection, and it will bring us to our heavenly home. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:36.880 We will look back on our lives today and we will say, I was truly blessed, in ways perhaps that I don't even recognize right now. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:54.880 If this is true, if regardless of the circumstances of life, if my blessing is not contingent on the circumstances of my life, but on the certainty of Christ, if that's true, then I have no reason to be overwhelmed by fear or trouble, do I? 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.759 Because the most secure thing in my life is not my circumstances, it's Christ. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.240 Christ, and Christ has secured my outcome. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:10.720 Therefore, when I honor Christ, I know what it is to be truly blessed. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:22.880 To honor Christ is to elevate the Lord Jesus in the core of my being, the center of my person above everything else, to treasure him, to prize him, to delight in him. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:29.279 Jesus is the thing that gives my life, every other part of my life meaning. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.279 And everything else in life is understood in relationship to him. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:37.119 When that's the case, I know what it is to be truly blessed. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:41.519 Because Christ has gone to the cross and back for me. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.640 And my life is secure in him. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.640 When I honor Christ, I know what it is to be truly blessed. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:54.480 And what I have to fear or be troubled by has a way of, well, it has a way of diminishing. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:56.400 Not evaporating. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:03.119 I'm not saying that the Christian life is a life absent of fear, but it puts our fears into perspective, doesn't it? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.880 Because we know the one to go to to feel truly secure. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.359 How can I be blessed and stay blessed? 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:13.759 Honoring Christ in our hearts is the way to be blessed and stay blessed. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:20.799 Because in a world full of fear and trouble, Christ offers us a sure and living hope. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:29.599 One of the essays that I'm just drawn back to time and time again, I've probably cited it before already, is an essay written by C.S. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.599 Lewis in 1948, and it's called Living in an Atomic Age. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:44.720 And this is just a few years after the first atomic bombs have been dropped, and now the whole world is thinking, what does it mean to live in a world where we could destroy ourselves in five minutes? 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:53.200 How can we guard ourselves against any kind of despair and nihilism and be overwhelmed by fear? 00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:09.200 Lewis gives our think a really compelling vision of what it means to live the human life and perhaps specifically the Christian life, even in a world that is overwhelmed by fear and trouble, whether it's the atomic bomb or anything else. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:20.000 He writes this If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:38.559 Praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts, not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:46.559 They may break our bodies, a microbe says, can do that, but they need not dominate our minds. 00:24:48.079 --> 00:25:05.119 In a world that is overwhelmed by fear and trouble, if you can agree with me that our our world is overwhelmed by fear and trouble, in a world overwhelmed by fear and trouble, imagine the compelling witness that we Christians can have when fear and trouble might enter our minds, but it doesn't dominate our minds. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:16.079 When we get on with life, bathing the children and playing tennis and getting together with friends, because we know at the end of all of this the outcome is secure and we choose to honor Christ. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:24.240 And we choose to honor Christ when fear does not dominate our minds, but we get on with life to God's glory. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:35.279 Sarah Phillips writes, we won't learn to seek Christ with our whole hearts until we realize that only He can satisfy us. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:38.079 He is the great blessing. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:48.079 And experiencing His presence and tasting His love often happens on a deeper level through difficulty. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:55.039 See, we can let the fear and trouble of life drive us away from Christ, or we can let it drive us toward Christ. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:58.319 And we can live in the security that only He can offer. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:15.440 And friends, Peter wants us to know this: that if we run to Christ to find our hope, pardon me, if we run to Christ in fearful times, we will experience a welling hope because we know the outcome is secure in him, and people will notice that hope and will ask us about it. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:20.880 How can you be so hopeful in times of trouble and fear? 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:26.720 And Peter tells us, be prepared to give an answer to that question, verse 15 to 17. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:30.960 Always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:38.799 And this is the verse that often gets cited by apologists as kind of the theme verse for this Christian discipline of offering reasonable answers for the Christian faith. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:40.079 Very appropriately so. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:41.680 That's a right verse to choose. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:47.599 But notice Peter is not addressing uh Christian theologians with PhDs, right? 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.599 Bookshelves full of books or walls full of degrees. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.319 He's talking to ordinary Christians like us. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:55.519 Be prepared. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:04.160 When your heart honors Christ and it is full of hope, be prepared for people to notice and be ready to give an answer that honors Christ. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:14.799 My heart is so full of hope, because no matter what is going on in life, I know that Christ has died on the cross for me and my sin is done away with. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:19.440 And I know that Christ is risen and promises me eternal life just like that. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:25.599 And I know that Christ is ascended and reigns as king over all the universe, and everything is answerable to him. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:30.559 And I know that Christ has promised to return and set the world to rights. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.599 That gives us hope in every circumstance, doesn't it? 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:39.759 How can we be blessed and stay blessed even when life seems like it's the worst? 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.119 Don't fear, choose to honor Christ in your hearts. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:48.559 Here's the third thing Peter says, and I'll be brief. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:55.599 Don't revile, practice virtue, don't fear, but honor Christ. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.799 And here's number three: take the cross to heart. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:00.079 Verse 18. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:12.319 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:16.960 So what is it about the cross that offers true blessing? 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:18.880 Maybe that's what we want to ask Peter. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:21.440 Because that's kind of a weird thing to say if we stop and think about it. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.880 Maybe we're just so accustomed to the cross as Christians who come to church all the time. 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:28.640 The cross is a Roman instrument of execution, isn't it? 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:35.039 And yet Peter seems to be suggesting that it's the source of our greatest blessing. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:43.039 If we have an idea that blessing means increase in material prosperity, then the cross makes no sense, does it? 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:48.480 How can our greatest blessing seem to be the greatest deprivation of everything that we want in life? 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:49.440 Right? 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.079 But here's what Peter sees when he looks at the cross. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:53.759 He wants us to see the same. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:57.599 The cross means it is finished. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:00.720 Christ has suffered once for sins. 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:07.279 There is nothing left to be done to secure our outcome if our faith is in Jesus. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:13.119 We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:17.279 So we read in Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus has paid it all. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.960 All to him we owe. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:20.799 The cross means it is finished. 00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:27.039 The cross means Christ is our substitute, the righteous for the unrighteous. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.480 Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, for our sake, Christ was made sin. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.720 He was made sin to be sin. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.000 Pardon me. 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:39.200 God made Christ to be sin for him who knew. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.119 Nope, I'm going to start again. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.279 I'm just going to read it and try not to substitute for the pronouns here. 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:46.000 Here we go. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:55.759 For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:00.000 Took me three times, but I got there. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:01.839 And it was worth it. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.839 Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:07.519 That is you, and that is me. 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:10.400 The cross means Christ is our substitute. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:14.319 He has taken our death so that we may receive his life. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:18.799 And that means, number three, the cross means we are reconciled to God. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:27.039 Again, 2 Corinthians 5, all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.079 Friends, if we want to be blessed and stay blessed, we need to look at the cross. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:46.079 And if we recognize the cross is our greatest blessing, that there is no greater love or grace that God could show for us than God Himself taking on our sin and putting it to death so that we can have his new life. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:53.039 If we can see that, then we can see blessing in every circumstance of life, even when life seems like it's the worst. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:58.079 God can still work our good and work our redemption. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:07.759 Put your trust in God's promise above everything else. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:09.680 And that's what the cross represents. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:11.440 That's what your baptism represents. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:17.440 And friends, we've got so little time and some of the most confusing verses in the New Testament that follow. 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:20.640 But I do think we can say a few things safely about this. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:31.519 Peter wants us to know that Christ's victory through the cross is proclaimed even to those spirits in prison, those spirits that were judged by way of a flood in Noah's time. 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:35.440 But Peter recognizes imagery here and he says, it's like baptism. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:45.519 Baptism corresponds to this, and it now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:47.839 Remember your baptism, Peter is saying. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:56.480 The significance of your baptism is this: Christ's cross, his resurrection, his ascension, all of these benefits have been applied to you. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:01.279 They've been poured over you by God's word and water. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:06.720 You are Christ's, and Christ is yours, and that is the most secure place that you can be. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:08.240 Remember your baptism. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:18.720 Direct your attention to the cross and take God's promises to heart, and truly you will know I am blessed, even when life feels like it's the worst. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:23.279 Bless. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:25.680 For to this you are called. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:26.720 Amen. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.000 We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:37.599 If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:41.839 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:47.359 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:53.920 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:32:54.079 --> 00:33:02.240 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca giving to make your contribution. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:05.920 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.