WEBVTT 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:06.559 Thank you, everybody. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:07.679 Good morning. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.960 That didn't go any better for me than it did for you. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:11.919 I know, right? 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:12.800 Good morning, Chris. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:13.919 Good morning. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.759 So, yeah, my name's Chris. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.000 Um, my wife, Christine, and I are members here. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:19.039 We've got three boys. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.760 Uh, we lead a mission group in Milford. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:32.399 It's incredibly powerful and uh exciting to look out and see my mission group family here, to see Sacred Mission Group or Sacred Mission Family here. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:39.039 It makes me very excited for uh the coming days when we can all be here safely together again. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:44.079 But it also makes me very grateful for the careful steps that our elders have taken. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:48.159 Um if we can just take a second just to reflect on the leadership we have. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.320 These decisions are hard ones to make. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:01:02.320 I know they're being navigated very carefully with thought to what's good for us versus what could be harmful to us, uh, but with always the priority being how can we make much of the name of Jesus? 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.560 So none of this was rushed into. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:06.799 Um, and and I'm really grateful for that. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:19.760 So uh I just want to encourage us to be thankful for our elders in this really difficult time, to give much grace uh to those uh leaders that we have, knowing that their intentions are for God to be honored and us to be safe. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:26.959 So I just wanted to take a second before moving forward just to acknowledge we've got really great elders that we ought to be thankful for. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:34.719 Um it's not lost on me how tumultuous the time is that I find myself up here. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:44.640 Um one need not look far to see everywhere grief, um, anger, division, um, sickness, hopelessness, death. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:46.000 Uh it's all around us. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:02:01.120 And and the truth is um if if we're if if we're ones to take sides, no matter what side you're on, on any one of these issues that we're navigating, we're all experiencing and bearing witness to real suffering every single day. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:24.639 And I'll be transparent, I've spent a lot of time considering using this platform right here to advance an agenda that I might have, to put my own thoughts and exhortations toward everything from the coronavirus to masks to uh racial injustice to all kinds of things. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:37.360 But the truth is that any attempt that I would make to advance an agenda that I might have would be me attempting to share wisdom that I just don't think I have adequate uh words for. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:41.120 But here's what's what's encouraging. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.919 Two months ago, I was offered this opportunity to take an additional week of preaching. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.680 And at that time, um, we were not in the same climate. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:56.400 None of what uh we're seeing on today's news cycle was bubbled up like it is now. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.439 We had uh fears and anxieties over this virus. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:09.840 Yes, we were we were not in person at the time, as far as our gatherings, but it's gotten substantially more vitriolic all around us since then. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.560 But here's what's encouraging to me. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.560 Two months ago, God did know where we'd be today. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:26.479 Sovereignly, he ordered our steps to be right here in this scripture today, addressing how can we suffer well? 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.280 How can we encourage each other well? 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:31.680 How can we be unified? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:42.960 That sounds incredibly refreshing to me right now as I as I hear uh and see the example of believers and non-believers being anything but unified. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:54.560 So so that that that he ordered our steps, that God locked us into this scripture for this day brings me much comfort, and I pray that it encourages you as well. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:20.000 So instead of making um much of myself or a position that I might take, um, instead of using this as a platform to me, I'm gonna pray that this incredibly relevant text um move us as the Holy Spirit ministers to us, that we would trust that our specific anxieties can find both direction and encouragement in the text that we're reading today. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:22.720 So um thank you for praying for me. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.319 I'm gonna pray again because I need it. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.079 Um if you'll join me, I'd like that. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:28.319 Pray um uh to God. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:36.160 God be the words that we need, be the strength and the courage that we need, be the illumination that we need. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:46.879 May your words be uh, may they prove to be living and life-giving even today as we observe the wreckage all around us that our sin has laid bare. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:05:02.240 God, thank you that though we've invited suffering upon ourselves, that you've lovingly given us direction as to how we might bear witness to your holiness as we respond and take your gospel to the nations. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:13.839 God, I pray that this time is marked by the moving of your Holy Spirit, by the stirring of our hearts, by the breaking of our pride, breaking of my pride. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:21.360 And it'd be marked by a heightened awareness of our desperate need for your son Jesus. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:22.639 Amen. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:31.600 So I like to always kind of start with a level set and bring us all up to speed, um, recounting a bit of where we've been leading up to here. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.839 We've recently seen Peter address and exhort different groups of Christians. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:47.439 He's addressed how believers are to reconcile our freedom in Christ with those in authority that may seek to oppress us or remove our freedoms in the here and now. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:06:00.800 He's addressed believing servants or slaves, as our scriptures called them, and they're called to relate humbly with their masters, knowing that nothing can be robbed of us today that can steal the joy that we have in Christ. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:10.399 That my identity being well founded in Christ, there's no oppression here on earth that disables me from joyfully serving for the sake of this gospel. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.079 There's nothing I truly need more than Him. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.920 And in knowing that, I can't be robbed of anything that I need. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:22.639 And then most recently, Peter addressed the dynamic of how husbands and wives ought to relate to each other. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:38.480 Husbands cultivating faithfully and lovingly imperishable beauty in their wives, and wives uh following under the leadership and authority of their husbands, and this is hard, even if their husbands aren't faithful to the Lord, that they might minister to that very husband. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:41.040 These are tricky things to navigate. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:42.879 I'm thankful that it's been done well. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:51.839 But here, where we find ourselves today in 1 Peter 3, 8 through 17, Peter's speaking to us as a collective body of believers. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:56.800 And so jumping right in, we see immediately in verse 8, Peter say, finally. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:10.639 Like all of that having been said, almost like a culmination of all of these things, now that I've addressed this pocket over here, now that I've addressed you over here and you over here, what I'm about to say is for everybody. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:17.759 This is good for everybody, it's sustenance for everybody, it's desperately called for for everybody. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:36.959 And what he's going to show us is that we ought to see ourselves collectively together as we proclaim the good news, as we're ambassadors of this hope that we have, as we're locking arms to see the power of Christ transform this culture that we see burning down all around us, how ought we relate to one another? 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:38.480 What are we called to? 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.399 So often we're, well, I know I'm looking for clarity. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:44.720 I can say, all right, I get it. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.240 My identity is in Christ, and I feel great about that. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:49.839 But what do I do? 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.480 Give me something tangible to cling to that I can follow and just know what it means. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:56.319 What does this mean for me? 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:02.800 And thank God, thank God, Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, spells this out. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.360 Thankfully, we get to examine very specific actions to take. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:15.680 And as we do that, as we approach this, um, our main idea for this morning is that we're called to a hope that sets us apart. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:19.279 That's our main idea. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:23.920 And this is what we're gonna cling to and kind of circle throughout our time this morning. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.639 We're called to a hope that sets us apart. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.759 So let's dig into verse 8 and see what we're called to. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:32.559 This is gonna follow immediately with what we're not called to. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.799 So we're gonna get the wraparound. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.279 Uh, you know, he's gonna lay it all out there for us. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.120 We can know what we're to do and not to do at the end of this morning. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.440 So, first, have unity of mind. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.639 Seek harmony with one another and amongst each other. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:54.879 See what he's not saying here is look the same, speak the same, be the same, but find unity of mind. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:00.159 Have a mindset that has uh a priority being the advancement of the gospel. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:01.360 Unite on that. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:13.600 Unified prayer that heaven would come down, that we might make much of Christ, that the hope that this world needs so badly would be realized in a savior that's already paid for it all. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:24.399 A savior that laments marginalization, a savior that leaves the 99 for the one, a savior that cares for the sick and the lowly. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.120 Let's be united about these hills that we'll champion and that we'll even die on. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:40.320 That we serve a God over all of this, that we have a promise of salvation in his son, and that that son, our better, greater master, will not forget the injustice that we see. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:50.080 He's not mindless of the sick that we see around us, and that there will be a day that he'll confront all of these things decisively. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.240 Next, have sympathy. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:13.600 And we can distill this down to the ability of the ability to put ourselves in the position of someone else and strive to feel what they feel, put aside our specific context and perspective, and be able to respond with patience and empathy and with sensitivity to tend to their need and as much as we can. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:24.159 And this tender approach to one another as others are suffering doesn't require that we've been through exactly what they've been through. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:35.120 But it involves that we afford them this radical possibility that they've been through enough to frame their perspective in a way that we can't fathom. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:40.879 And knowing that, we give them the grace of a quiet ear and a hand on their shoulder. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.559 And and avoid that propensity to hit fix mode. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:45.840 Let me help fix you. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.720 And just go straight into I'm just gonna refuse to let you suffer alone mode. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.799 It's a powerful opportunity that we have. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:00.639 Have brotherly love, and this is like a familial affection. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:10.799 I think it's important that we remember that under Father God, through our big brother King Jesus, we're made siblings, and we ought to approach each other that way. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.639 Peter talked to us about this in chapter two. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:18.000 Says, honor everyone, love the brotherhood. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.799 In Psalm 133, David says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:31.440 It's like precious oil on the head running down the beard, like that which falls on the mountains of Zion. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.279 Supposed to say do, like that which falls on the mountains of Zion. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:36.320 It's a beautiful picture. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.399 Let our dynamic be like that. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:40.320 Have a tender heart. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:50.480 And when we look at the Greek for this term, it's essentially saying to overflow with generosity from our gut, from our deepest, most inner parts. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:53.279 We're called to feel well disposed toward each other. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.559 And from what I've garnered, the root of this is where we get the word compassion. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:09.360 And this is compelling because the good Samaritan was full of compassion when he saw someone injured and dying that would otherwise be left to die alone. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:10.720 He was full of compassion. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:15.919 Jesus was said to be full of compassion when he passed by the grave of Lazarus. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.480 So it's this idea that we see a need, we're moved to act on that need. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:38.480 And then finally, have a humble mind, a lowly mindset, a mind that's open to learning, open to correction, open to different perspectives, open to think that we can agree while disagreeing. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:46.159 We can be agreeable while not being in alignment about everything, but we can seek unity for those pieces that matter. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.799 Always being willing to grow and transform. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:58.559 Think for a second about the litany of interactions that we've seen, especially between believers. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:25.120 Ponder with me the power of our testimony as we confront a hurting world, united in mind and full of sympathy and compassion, with all brotherly love, kind-heartedness, and a lowly mind, all outflowing naturally from an abundance of gratefulness, as we acknowledge, as I acknowledge, that I'm the guy with my knee on Jesus' neck. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:27.600 That's me. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:34.960 That we're the murderers, we're the destroyers, we too are participants in the brokenness that we see around us everywhere. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:45.279 But God, God saw me, the lying, adulteress, reviling, evil orphan that I was, and said, You're not that anymore. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:46.799 You're mine now. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:54.799 Peter had this experience directly with Jesus. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.480 You'll remember he's he's talking about things that he walked through himself. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:04.559 He knows that when you have an encounter with Jesus, when he captures you, that you're never the same. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:09.600 And that as a result, we we ought to overflow with the fruit of our new identity in him. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.639 And when that happens, it looks like verse 8 in real life. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.279 So that's that's what we're called to. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.399 And I know I need God's help in that. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.720 And on the on the regular. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:31.200 Sometimes I don't feel brotherly love to my Christian brother and sister brothers and sisters. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:31.759 I don't. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.159 That doesn't change that I'm called to it. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:38.639 God, help us to feel the things that you've called us to feel. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.840 Help us to desire the unity that I don't always desire. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.200 Sometimes I want to fight with people and make much of my wit. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:47.679 God, help kill that in me. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:58.080 Verse 9 picks up where eight leaves off, and here we get to some of the don'ts, but before we examine those, just see the order here. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:04.000 First, he's addressed inwardly what ought change. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:11.679 Because it's only as that happens that we're capable and even desire to not do these things that we're called not to do. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:20.559 So in walking this out, that means that we're not to pay, like verse 9 says, evil for evil or reviling for reviling. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:32.720 That as we're being transformed and trusting for those verse eight characteristics, namely offering blessing in the face of insult or persecution, that this is what we're called to. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:39.360 Peter makes it clear we're called to bless, even bless in the face of those that would harm us. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:44.399 And listen, I know me, I don't I don't need any help repaying injury for injury. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:50.159 I revel in winning over somebody that I feel is just asking for it. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.320 And that is gross, but it's true. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:03.600 What I can't do without the Holy Spirit renovating me from my gut out is respond with poise and patience. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:13.279 Apart from this grace that I haven't earned, I will respond in a way that does not reflect the beauty of the king that has saved me. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:24.720 But as I endeavor to honor Christ as holy, like verse 15 calls us to, I fear far less those who would seek to oppress or harm me, like verse 14 warns me of. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:33.759 And in that I can humbly fall under the protection of a God that allows me to find great hope in him and respond with meekness and gentleness. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:38.080 And so the central question that we need to ask of ourselves is what are we striving for? 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.919 To what end are we moving? 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.440 What's our intention? 00:16:41.679 --> 00:17:07.599 If we're striving to proclaim the goodness of God to a burning world, if we're aiming to take the pure milk that we've talked about a few weeks ago, that we've been handed undeservingly to a city full of people starving for salvation, whether they know it or not, if that's our desperate goal, then we need not clamor to advance our own agendas. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:13.200 We need not clamor to defend ourselves or worry about those that might come against us. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:14.400 And we can do this. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:22.799 We can simultaneously be outraged at the injustice and the brokenness that we see, but poised in the face of it as we respond. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:29.039 Please remember that the Bible says that right now we see through but a mirror dimly. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.599 We see absolute devastation around us, and I'd encourage you to see it rightly. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:40.880 I'd encourage you to address it vocally in a way that honors God, but please don't see it as the whole picture. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.599 We see but a glimpse. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:49.440 And while I'm discouraged by what's happening, disgusted by it, I'm weary from it at times. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:59.359 I have to trust that this is just part of a story that has a really, really satisfying climax. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.400 Justice is not flowing as it should. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:03.920 That's the truth. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.920 And we should champion for the weak and the marginalized. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:13.359 We should contend for righteousness, but we ought to see ourselves rightly in that equation. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:17.200 And our names and our agendas and our egos mar that mission. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:24.640 And maybe you're watching this and you say, Chris, that's all well and good, but you you have no idea what it's like to suffer like me. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:26.160 You have no clue. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.640 Maybe you've actively been oppressed. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.759 Maybe you've seen people uh sick and dying all around you. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:40.960 Maybe you're one of the faces in society that you feel uh maybe you maybe you feel disposable. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.119 Thank God Peter addresses this, and thank God Peter lays out for us the following verses. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.359 How in the world do I love someone and bless someone that hates me? 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.240 Jesus made a really big deal of loving his enemies. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:00.720 But God, where do I find the motivation to love my enemies? 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:01.359 Please hear me. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.920 I am not standing here saying that it's easy. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:14.160 I struggle with this, and I experience a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the harm that some people experience. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:22.160 So humbly, humbly, I want to share that he hears you. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.079 He sees your sorrow and he offers this for those who are suffering. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:28.160 This is verses 10 through 12. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:35.039 Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.119 Let him turn away from evil and do good. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:39.119 Let him seek peace and pursue it. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:45.279 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.200 But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:52.079 And what Peter's doing here is quoting Psalm 34. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:56.160 Because it's helpful, I like to give the context of the letter. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.400 This is one of thanksgiving and gratitude that David was writing. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:10.559 The title of the letter is Taste and See That the Lord is Good, likely inspired by his encounter and deliverance from the Philistines at the time. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:14.400 In his letter, he's proclaiming that God answered his prayers and delivered him to safety. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.720 Therefore, we all ought to know that God cares for those that trust him. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.480 I hope you're encouraged by that, because I know I am. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:32.319 The letter proceeds to juxtapose God's response to those that are heartbroken and crushed in spirit with those that are wicked. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:39.519 Suffering friends, I know you desire to love life and to see good days. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:43.200 I won't try to convince you that you shouldn't feel broken. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:53.200 But I'm saying that there's this word here for you that says, God's very eyes are on you as you pursue righteousness, even in the face of unspeakable evil. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:04.559 And further know that as you struggle to feel progress being made, as you seal, as you see oppressors rise and seemingly prevail, nothing's being overlooked. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:07.759 Nothing will go unanswered. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.839 May that be an encouragement to you. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:15.440 May that bring peace to us as we face the decision to answer harm for harm. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:20.480 Or trust that our father's got this ultimately. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:25.759 And in that, we can have confidence that we don't need to fight every battle. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.319 That we can approach our oppressors with grace and loving kindness. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:42.559 Not answer harm for harm, but with this radical hope we have that sets us apart. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.240 Final addition for motivation as we struggle to want to answer righteously. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:58.160 Verse 15 says that we ought be prepared to make a defense to anyone that what asks you for a reason for the hope that's in you. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.680 Friends, I'm begging you to see. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.119 Your response as a testimony to the hope that you have. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.960 By God's grace, there might be eyes on you as you respond. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.759 As you pursue to love your enemies, and that's a radical idea. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.799 May we have broken, lost eyes upon us as we do that. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.880 That they might just have to know where that hope comes from. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.799 And that you'd be ready with that defense to say, This is where my hope comes from. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:43.599 If you've made a point of pursuing unity with your brothers and sisters, leading with sympathy and brotherly affection, tender heart on your sleeve, with humility that makes little of yourself, even in the face of your enemies, you'll be able to answer that curiosity with not I, but Christ in me. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.079 That's our hope. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:54.880 Our hope made clear to others that will beg their questions that we might point them right to that hope in Christ. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:06.240 So what I want to do as a result is leave some tangible steps that we can take as we strive to meet this calling that we have to bless. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:13.279 Got some practical rhythms that we can uh that we can hopefully integrate to ensure that we're walking in this manner. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.240 And the first one is simply turn away from sin. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:21.119 Verse 11 in our passage calls us to turn away from evil and do good. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:27.759 We need to admit that we fail to hit the mark, that we don't desire righteousness like we should. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.599 And make a habit of turning away from those former things and to seek to do good. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.359 Second rhythm is uh and habit that I would call us to is to cling to Christ. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:55.839 A month ago I was here and we saw Peter say, as you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, friends, we must turn away from evil and fall directly onto our true foundation, our faithful cornerstone in Jesus. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:02.640 Stand boldly on that foundation with the resolve to bless in the face of harm. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:07.359 And then finally, I'd call us to taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.119 Savor his goodness. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:21.279 Hearkening back to the text I preached on last time in chapter two, let us, like infants who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, savor the sustenance that we can only get as we hope in Christ. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:31.599 So I'm gonna prepare for landing, and I'm gonna do this by hopefully bringing our focus to and pulling our gaze to Jesus. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:44.400 We've been confronting this idea of suffering well, suffering in a way that glorifies our Savior, and addressing those that are suffering in a way that makes much of the name of Christ. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:51.039 And I just want to remind us that this is a good and worthy pursuit because Christ Himself suffered well. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.160 And so I was only supposed to go through 17, but I'm gonna attack on verse 18. 00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:58.480 Hope that's not too rogue of me. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:02.559 Um, but let's look at verses 17 and 18 together. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:09.599 For it's better to suffer for doing good, even if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:20.960 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. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:25.920 This is so important that Peter circles this wagon throughout his whole book. 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:38.640 In chapter one, verses eleven, he says, The prophets inquired what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:46.960 Chapter 1, verse 19, you were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:52.240 Chapter 2, verse 21, for this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.160 Chapter 4, verse 1. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.319 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.880 There's that unity of mind that we were talking about. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:11.519 Chapter 4, verse 13, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:12.880 Chapter 5, verse 1. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:18.480 So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:24.240 Christ's sufferings are so thematic of this book, but not only that, it's central to our hope. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:26.960 Notice that it says Christ suffered once. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:29.279 This was a decisive act taken. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:35.440 No, no going back for do-overs, nothing to go back and pick up the pieces from. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:39.200 It was all accomplished with one suffering Christ. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:49.119 The Bible says once for all, doing all the work that we needed to be done, so that we might be presentable at the feet of our Heavenly Father. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:54.480 Christ suffered on my behalf, the righteous, for me, the unrighteous. 00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.240 Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:03.359 Thank God that as a result, God's eyes are lovingly upon me and not what I was. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:06.160 We can suffer well. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:24.880 God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to suffer well, to walk in a manner that even as we're broken, that we can reflect the hope that we have to the degree that Peter says, look, Christ in you will make people inquire as to where you got that hope. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:26.799 May that be our endeavor. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.400 May that be our charge. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:30.079 May that be our pursuit. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:32.160 May that be our prayer. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:41.359 I'm going to leave you with this, and I'll just say that I hope you feel encouraged by the words that Peter left for us in this chapter. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:46.000 I'd encourage you to pour back over it and wrestle with it. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.599 There's so much here for us. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:57.839 But I also want to point our gaze forward to a future that looks much better than our today. 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:01.359 Our future is well cared for. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.559 And we can look forward to a day where all of this is put to rest. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.519 And it looks really beautiful. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.680 Revelation 7 says this. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:36.319 After I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:46.960 And all the angels are standing around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:55.839 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:56.960 Amen. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:01.519 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these clothed in white robes? 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:03.039 And from where have they come? 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:04.880 And I said to him, Sir, you know. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.240 And he said to me, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:14.000 They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:24.000 Therefore they're before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.519 They'll hunger no more, they'll thirst no more. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:37.440 The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he'll guide them to springs of living water. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:42.799 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:44.880 Praise be to God.