Christlike Endurance

Christlike Endurance

1 Peter 2: 13 – 25.

Introduction

I promise this sermon will not be about Chick-fil-A or even about traditional marriage.  I selected this Scripture and topic weeks ago before Chick-fil-A ever appeared in the daily news cycle.  However, the events of the past week have given me a reason to stop and think about what it means to be a Christian—a follower of Jesus Christ as Lord.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, I gave a brief interview with the Lufkin Daily News about Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.  I made two statements about what has been going on in the media.  First, I said that since Chick-fil-A is a privately held business with no connection to any government entity and no public shareholders, the Cathy family has the right to voice their own opinions and to donate money to any organization they support.  In fact, I find it rather hypocritical that people who speak up in the name of tolerance are so intolerant of opinions different from their own.  Second, I made a statement about traditional marriage.  Marriage was not invented by the state and was not invented by the church.  Marriage was not invented by anyone.  Marriage was created by God in Genesis 2: 24, “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh (NIV).”  Also, my family ate at Chick-fil-A for lunch on Wednesday.)

On Thursday, Chick-fil-A made a statement that Wednesday had been a record breaking day of sales. On Wednesday, I saw pictures on the Internet of crowded restaurants and people lined up on the outside of restaurants all over the nation.  Mike Huckabee issued a challenge and people responded.

I went to bed Wednesday night thinking about Mike Huckabee’s challenge and the overwhelming response.  My first thought was that Huckabee found a simple way for people to express their views.  It was simple and practical—Go to Chick-fil-A and spend money to eat at their restaurant.  Perhaps this is something pastors and churches should do to help people express their faith and to live out their discipleship.  Perhaps we need simple and practical ways to express faith and live out discipleship.

Then, I remembered something Jesus said about discipleship…

Mark 8: 34, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (NIV).”

Jesus’ call to discipleship is not simple, but it is practical.  Deny yourself probably means to make a sacrifice for the sake of other people.  It probably means Christian disciples are supposed to put our own needs behind the needs of others and to live for others.  Take up your cross is an obvious reference to suffering.  Jesus is telling us that we must be willing to sacrifice and to suffer as a result of our faith in Jesus.  Follow me probably has multiple meanings.  On one hand, it means to live with Jesus as your leader and guide—to seek Jesus’ wisdom and will for your life before making any decision.  On the other hand, following Jesus can also mean that our lives are to reflect the kind of life Jesus modeled for us in his earthly life.  Jesus demonstrated a life of humility, a life of service, a life of love, and a life of endurance in the face of suffering.

Some people ate at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday as a positive way to support Dan Cathy’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech.  Some people did this as a positive way to support all of our First Amendment right to religious liberty.  But other people did this as a negative protest against homosexuality or against homosexual individuals.

As Christians, we are called to be followers of Jesus.  As followers of Jesus, our external actions matter.  But our internal attitudes and motivations are just as important.  We need to ask ourselves: Do our actions reflect the actions of Jesus?  And, do our internal attitudes and motivations reflect the humility, service, and love of Jesus?

Today, we continue to talk about being imitators of Jesus by turning our attention to the suffering of Jesus.

1 Peter 2: 13 – 25.

More than likely, the Book of 1 Peter was written by the Apostle Peter.  Peter had been one of Jesus’ closest followers in the Gospels.  In the Book of Acts, Peter became an impassioned preacher of the Gospel message.  He primarily preached to Jews about accepting Jesus as the fulfillment of all their hopes for a Messiah.  But, Peter was the first to cross over racial boundaries and share his faith with a Gentile named Cornelius.

Based on what Peter wrote in the opening verses of 1Peter, we believe this book of the Bible was a letter Peter wrote to a series of churches in Central Asia—the modern day nation of Turkey.  He was not writing to them about how to become Christians.  He was writing to them about how to express their faith and live out their discipleship in a secular culture which was hostile to both the Gospel message and to Christian disciples.

The section we read this morning fits into a First Century literary form knwn as “household codes.”  There are examples of household codes in other New Testament books and examples in secular literature.  Household codes were written as a way to protect the social order by making sure the inferior members of the First Century household knew their place and remained in their place.  Men were the recognized heads of the ancient household and were to keep their wives, children and slaves in line.

The Christian household codes we find in the New Testament (Ephesians 5 – 6; Colossians 3 and 1 Peter 2 – 3) were revolutionary in the First Century world.  Christian household codes did not tell the men to keep their wives, children and slaves in line.  Instead they offered instructions to wives and husbands, children and parents (both fathers and mothers), slaves and slave owners.  This was revolutionary, because they address wives, children and slaves as human beings.  The Bible emphasizes their status as free human beings and not as the property of their husband, father or master.

Imagine that.  Peter is telling slaves that they have a choice about how they will relate to and respond to their masters.

My usual way of interpreting the biblical household codes about slavery is to try to apply it to modern day employment.  Modern day employees should work hard for their employers as if they are working for Christ.  But there is a better way to interpret this passage.

Slaves of God

Verse 18 is clearly addressed to Christian slaves who are members of the church.  Verse 19 could be interpreted in the same way, except that Peter does not mention slaves.  He does not say, “It is commendable if a slave bears up under the pain of unjust suffering.”  Instead, he said, “It is commendable if SOMEONE bears up under the pain of unjust suffering.”

I believe this is supposed to remind us of Peter’s instructions in verse 16: “Live as free men (and women), but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as slaves of God (NIV).”  If this is true, then Peter’s instructions to Christian slaves ought to be understood as instructions to all Christians, because we are all slaves of God.

According to Peter, all Christians face the same kinds of moral choices faced by Christian slaves.  As long as we live on this earth, we live as aliens and strangers here.  We have a dual citizenship.  We are citizens of the United States of America, and we are citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Most of the time, there is no conflict between our two allegiances. Our earthly authorities do not ask us to do things that contradict the desires of our heavenly authority.  As long as there are no conflicts, we are to be law-abiding citizens who freely submit ourselves to earthly authority.  But there will be times when we have to make a choice.

The Christian slave serves as an example for all Christians.  For the slave, day to day safety depended on the moods of their owner.  When the owner was happy, the slave could expect to be treated well.  But if the owner was unhappy for any reason, the laws of the land allowed the owner to mistreat or even beat his slave.  In the same way, Christians with dual citizenship experience safety as long as the king or the government is happy.

Sometimes slaves suffer as a result of their disobedience to their earthly masters.  In the ancient world masters had the authority to disciple their slaves for disobedience. There is no honor in this kind of suffering.

Sometimes Christians suffer because they have broken the laws of the land.  In all societies, government officials have the right to enforce the law.  There is no honor in breaking the law and suffering the consequences.

Peter is describing the expectations for a Christian lifestyle.  Christian discipleship is more than acknowledging an orthodox set of beliefs.  Christian discipleship makes demands on the way we live and express faith in our day to day relationships—including our relationship to government officials.

Christians have a responsibility to live as good citizens and to obey the law…as long as those laws do not contradict God’s will and God’s word.  If we face a choice between obeying the government or obeying God, we need to acknowledge two realities.  On one hand, we should obey God above all earthly authorities.  On the other hand, when we choose God over the government, we need to be prepared to face the consequences of our choice.  There is honor in suffering for doing the right thing.  There is no honor in suffering the well-deserved consequences of our actions.

Three Kinds of Suffering

Suffering is a part of what it means to live as a human.  Most suffering falls into one of three categories.

Human Suffering…  We are fallen creatures who have inherited our sinful nature and our sinful desires from the first man and woman—Adam and Eve.  Their sin affected us.  But, their sin also affected the world we live in.  Because the creation experiences the effects of sin, we have a common experience of suffering.  For example, this is the reason we experience death—including our own approaching deaths as well as the deaths of people we love.  This is the reason we have diseases like cancer and have to experience natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.  When sin entered creation through Adam and Eve, three relationships were broken.  There is no longer harmony between God and humanity; no harmony between human and human; and no harmony between humanity and creation.

The Consequences of Sin…  Sometimes we suffer the results of our own stupid choices.  When we sin, we feel the pain of broken relationships and undesired consequences.  As human beings, we have the freedom to choose between obedience and sin.  All freedoms come with responsibilities.  Just as Americans have the freedom of speech, we also have the responsibility to accept the consequences of what we say.  In the same way, we have the freedom to choose evil over good and therefore the responsibility to accept the suffering which comes as a result of our sinful choices.

Christian Suffering…  There is a kind of suffering which comes as a result of our faith and discipleship.  In the ancient world, Jewish people who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and followed Jesus as their Lord often found themselves disowned by their families and friends.  Christians in the Roman Empire were marginalized and eventually persecuted because of their faith in Jesus.  The Empire labeled Christians as atheists because they refused to worship the Roman gods.  Christians were accused of being cannibals because of the strange practice of the Lord’s Supper.  They were even labeled as unpatriotic, seditious and defiant because they were loyal to Jesus over the Caesar.

In some respects, we don’t face this kind of persecution in Twenty-First Century East Texas.  After all, in our culture it can be a good thing for business to hold membership in the right church.  It might help your business to tell people that you are a member of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church…Just don’t talk about Jesus too much.  Church membership is a good thing.  Professing to be a Christian is a good thing.  But, it seems there is a limit on how much religion is enough.  It is offensive for us to be too Christian. 

In our culture, faith can be placed on a bell-shaped curve.  If you do not profess any faith, you will have a lower quality of life—friends, family and business.  If you have a little bit of faith, your quality of life will go up and will keep going up and up until you become too Christian.  If you talk about Jesus too much, you will lose friends, family and business.  And this is exactly the kind of suffering we are called to experience.  It is more important for us to be children of God and citizens of the Kingdom of God than any other relationship.  Jesus is our model for enduring unjust, Christian suffering.

1 Peter 2: 21, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (NIV).”

Jesus’ Example in Suffering

When we look back at the life of Jesus, we discover that Jesus was neither a law breaker nor a sinner, and Jesus suffered. God has one Son without sin, but none of God’s children have ever escaped suffering.

Jesus never experienced suffering as a consequence of his sins.  However, Jesus did experience other forms of suffering.  Jesus experienced human suffering in the pain of betrayal from one of his closest followers; rejection from his own family; and grief at the death of a friend.  And, Jesus  experienced Christian suffering by being faithful to God to the very end of his earthly life.

I want you to notice that Peter says two things about the death of Jesus in this passage.  In verse 24, he tells us that Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree (cross).”  This is the aspect of the crucifixion we are most familiar and comfortable with—vicarious suffering.  Jesus accepted the punishment for our sins so that we will not have to.  But, Peter also says that Jesus suffered and died as an example for us.

Jesus didn’t suffer for doing evil.  Jesus suffered for doing good.  On one hand, Jesus did good by obeying the law.  On the other hand, Jesus did good by living for justice and righteousness.  Jesus served the needs of others by healing the sick, casting out demons and feeding the hungry.  And Jesus suffered for doing good.

Notice how Jesus endured his suffering.  “No deceit was found in his mouth.”  “He did not retaliate” to their verbal insults.  “He made no threats.”  Jesus not only refused to return violence for violence, Jesus also held his tongue.  Sadly, this is not the way most of us respond when our faith and values are under attack.  Instead of holding our tongues, we return insult for insult and end up looking more like the world than like Jesus.

If Jesus is our example, then we should expect to suffer for doing good.  If Jesus is our example, we should endure suffering by not fighting with the same means used against us.  Perhaps we can learn from some folk wisdom…If you fight with a pig, you are going to get dirty, and the pig likes it.  Or, if you fight with a skunk whether you win are lose you end up smelling like a skunk.

Conclusion

One way to think of Jesus as our example is to think of Jesus as the perfect model.  It’s like a first grader who is learning how to write the letters of the alphabet.  There is a perfect letter on the classroom wall.  The only difference is that we are incapable of making a perfect copy of Jesus’ example.  We need more than his example.  We also need his righteousness and his presence as we endure suffering of all kinds.  This is one of the promises Jesus fulfilled in his sufferings.  No matter what kind of suffering we face, Jesus is here with us.  He gives us the strength to endure and to endure without becoming like the world.