1 Peter 4:12-19 NIV

[12] Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. [13] But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. [14] If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. [15] If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. [16] However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. [17] For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? [18] And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” [19] So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

INTRO 

Alright, over the last 8 weeks we have been in our sermon series on 1st  and 2nd Peter and we have gone over a lot of underlying themes about suffering, so I hope you're ready. Today our title is “When the World Hates You.” We are looking at that latter half of 1st Peter 4 where Yale left us off last week, and it's my job today to kind of tie up all of this suffering talk, and put a bow on it. We are looking at how we emotionally, spiritually, and practically handle when persecution comes 

PRAY

1. DON’T BE SURPRISED 

[12] Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

 

Just like the past few weeks talking about suffering, I think at this point we aren't surprised that suffering will happen to us.

For those in the room that haven't been here, I want to say: 

 

do not be surprised; people will hate you just for following Jesus. They have a deception in their hearts that is out of their control because they have not given God control like we have  

When Judgment comes we need to first identify the real enemy.

It isn't the people who do the persecuting, it's the devil himself that stirs up persecution to steal the word of God out of our heart to ignite a hatred for people.

 

So, when persecution comes don't get sidetracked by getting angry with the people involved. They aren't operating the same way we are. They are operating on their own strength.

Use the power and authority Jesus has given us over our lives to let the anger and hatred stop before it gets to us. 

Then, offer a prayer to the Lord on their behalf that the deception the enemy has used over them would break and they would come to know the truth of who God is. 

This is what persecution might look like in your life based on what I've seen in mine:

 

A lot of bosses I've had have given me a scolding that I should have to work Sundays because I’m a shift lead and I have an obligation to the company I work for.

I've been told that if I eat a chick fil a 

then i'm supporting a company that hate Gay people 

When I brought this up to my wife Anna she said people she knows have told her she shouldn't shop at Hobby Lobby because they don't support abortion, and if you shop there, you don’t support womens’ rights.

 

Maybe you're being ridiculed for going to a church that isn't LGBTQ+ affirming 

And something I hear a lot is people saying “I hate Christians, but not you,” and I hate to say it but if you weren't standing right there your friend wouldn't say “but not you.” 

Maybe your family doesn't like the way you live your life and so they constantly say things like “oh you know 123456789 they found Jesus so they're better than us now.” 

We should first respond by seeing who the real enemy is and then praying for the people who are persecuting us. After that, we can respond in the ways outlined in the following verses:

1. EMOTIONALLY ( REJOICE ) 

 

Not as easy as it sounds lets see what Peter has to say about Rejoicing in suffering 

 

[13] But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

[14] If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

The main thing I want to look at is: 

Rejoice inasmuch as you participate, right?

Most of us over the past weeks have very much said that “oh I don't feel like I deal with much 

persecution,” and we will get to you later don't worry, but 

for those that have, 

I know it’s hard but we are clearly called to Rejoice 

and Peter isn't the first one to say rejoice and be blessed. 

He is clearly repeating what Jesus told him in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. 

Because they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute us and we should be Glad and Rejoice.

The Enemy deemed us worthy of attack. He sees we have joy, we have peace, and we have everything in common, and he is threatened so he brings everything he has at us.

Recognize what persecution is and respond with rejoicing and His Glory will be revealed.This 

(“His Glory will be revealed”) means 2 different things.

 

1. That here on earth, once we repent of our sins and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and we are saved, a portion of God's Glory is revealed 

But we can’t truly understand the fullness of God until the other side of heaven 

and we will be overjoyed when that happens.

• When we rejoice during suffering, people see that. They ask questions, we share the Gospel, and the Glory of God is revealed to them. We will be overjoyed when that happens.

Before Peter brings up praising God I first want to talk about verse 15.

 

15] If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.

in other words if you take the Hate and return Hate you are really just suffering for the Hate you caused you are NOT suffering for Christ 

 

you might be the one to blame and its no longer persecution its just self inflicted suffering chances are you didn't get flipped of in traffic for having a living faith sticker on your car you just didn't use your turn signal 

the real enemy did not make you late to church today that extra episode on netflix did but the enemy did not make you watch it either 

 

you kill someone for killing someone in your family or your church family and you go to jail you aren't in jail for being a Christian you’re in jail for Killing 

the last thing we want to do is harm our witness by choosing our own thing or living like the world does 

or being a Meddler, and I had to look this one up a Meddler is a person who tries to change or have an influence on things that aren't their responsibility.

This one is tricky, but is it saying we shouldn't tell unbelievers HOW to live meddling??????

now its different when we call sin out in people who claim to call Jesus Lord 

 

 we shouldn't do that to unbelievers it isn't our responsibility 

our responsibility is to share the Gospel of Jesus and Love unconditionally even when we are being persecuted  

the choices we make are still our own Peter says make God choices 

3. SPIRITUALLY ( PRAISING GOD )

 

[16] However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

When we praise God for our persecution we are aren't only praising him for what He has done but what He will do

When we praise God, we are also praising Him for the faith we do have because of the cross 

We are praising Him and giving glory back to Him for the opportunity to have those Gospel conversations we get to have when people see how we respond to persecution

 

 in our workplace, and in school, and in any place we go.

I think that our spiritual response looks like not just praising God that we bear His name, but also the fact that we should Honor His name.

Honor is not something we talk about or think about almost ever but is something we should think about and the people reading this letter would be thinking of this. 

even as they are being persecuted 

 

In Peter’s time is when people started calling Jesus's disciples “Little Christs” because they would follow and do everything that he did.

it would be like if people started calling the people i disciple little Olson mocking them for wanting to be like me 

They were being mocked; it was derogatory towards the people trying to be like Jesus.

When we bear the name of Jesus, CHRISTIANS, we Honor that name by doing as he has asked of us in this case rejoicing in our persecution 

 

Our response to persecution is Honoring to God because it means we are looking like Jesus.  

we should be honored to bare the name of Jesus representing him everywhere we go 

 

God sent his son to earth to live a perfect life, and Jesus went through the worst of the worst to bare his name and he Honored God and bore his name and in the end we now have relationship through Christ Jesus because of his sacrifice and resurrection we have the choice to bare and Honor that name even when persecution comes and praise God for what he has done.

Even our spiritual response to persecution should be Honoring to God and Honor comes with respect. So why would we not Honor and respect God and do as he asks by Rejoicing and praising Him?

4. CASH OR CARD

 

Let’s see what Peter says about our Judgment now vs our Judgment later 

 

[17] For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? [18] And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Peter is saying in verse 17 and 18 is that the judgment we face from the enemy from people isn't real judgment at all 

last night i was going over my sermon for today with Paster Yale and he asked if this is ment as an encouragement or a warning

 

and i think it's both 

what this is saying is that our sin is covered no matter how much we go through here on earth it ends and if its bad for us as believers for a short time its worse for unbelievers for a long time and so our response should be sharing that Jesus offers us a form of debt cancellation and i love this quote from JON HART 

“Earth is the closest a non-Christian will ever get to heaven, and Earth is closest a believing Christian will ever get to hell”

 

and i think about this quote a lot some might say it's my Roman empire 

this really put into perspective the calling we have on our lives

we as Christ followers are dealing with this persecution now and paying cash for them because we are living lives that reflect the Gospel and that our debt is paid for 

but unbelievers are paying credit they are avoiding the judgment of the world living comfortable lives and later that sin debt will catch up to them 

we might not have it easy on this side of heaven but we need to offer that same hope to the people around us 

5. PRACTICALLY ( CONTINUE TO DO GOOD )

[19] So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

 

simple we when we suffer persecution we should commit our lives to God the creator of everything and continue to do Good 

 

so lets remember that these verse are a part of a letter to the church in modern day turkey new believers and so this letter is full of the good we are supposed to do and so im going to list off just a bit of what we've learned so far to remind us of the Good 

• Yale LIVING HOPE in Jesus and that the Gospel is for everyone if you choose to walk with him your life will be changed but that you won't be alone and you have a family here 

 

• Rich gave us a sermon on Holiness that the only thing that can make us Holy is God himself that as believers it's not a call to holiness but a command 

 

• Yale gave us a word on being God's chosen people that when we have Jesus and we seek out true Holiness we are chosen to share the Love Christ has for us with others

 

• Cody gave us a sermon on living Godly Lives in and Ungodly society we have the Gospel we seek holiness and we recognize that God sought us out  that next we need to define culture not let culter define us and when we do that society will look at us funny 

 

• Cody then gave us a sermon about marriage and put very well how men and women should act and support each other and grow deeper in christ together and that we need everyone to support a nourish and pray for the Marriages in the church because the enemy will attack

 

• Yale then gave taught us what suffering for doing good looked like and the GOOD things we should be doing not just for one another but also for unbelievers 

Be like-minded - Means to work together as a community, keep each other accountable, and have a common goal.

Be sympathetic -  Means to show understanding or pity for someone’s feelings

Love one another - Means to care deeply for other believers just because they belong to Jesus, not because of interests, natural friendship, race, age, sex, etc.

Be compassionate - Means to show concern for people, especially when they have less than you.

Be humble - Means to show a modest estimation of your own importance.

• Finally last week Yale preached on Gaining Godly desires that we need to deny our flesh of the sin we once new and take care of one another by
• Pray
• Love each other deeply
• Offer hospitality with a good attitude
• Use your gifts
• Speak Godly things over each other
• Serve each other with God’s strength

and the good things we continue to do after today 

 

• see the real enemy

• rejoice in our suffering

• avoid sinning and calling it persecution  

• praise God that we bare his name 

• offer up the Hope of Jesus
• and repeat 

6. AVOIDING PERSECUTION

 ( one way or the other )

what i have noticed in the passed few weeks is we have all not seen a whole lot of persecution for our faith and while i don't agree with that the question needs asked 

Are we letting there be any, are we putting ourselves in difficult situations where we could be persecuted or are we just avoiding it all together ???

there are two big issues that we need to watch out for 

1 being that when it come to the mental health movement we are told to take ourselves out of a situation that might cause stress or anxiety and while yes sometimes that's okay 

as someone who sees a therapist for stress depression and anxiety i also see how this contradicts what God is asking of us 

my therapist doesn't love Jesus and i can't afford to see one that does 

he has told me to look at the things i can control and things i can't and take myself out of any situation i can not control if it brings too much anxiety or stress 

now if i did that well certainly would never  get on stage even for announcement and i definitely wouldn't share the gospel 

mental health is absolutely important but are you letting it control your life by telling yourself the things you want out of life are more important then what God wants to give you in life??? 

 the point of therapy is to stop going so i'm told once a month by my dr 

Therapy is there to help make a personalized plan to help you live the life you want to live and i know you want to live a life that reflects Christ even when its hard and stressful 

2 are we doing as the Lord asks of us is God the first priority in our lives or is comfort?

 

when it comes to sharing the gospel we are given numerous opportunities daily and we don't take them maybe we aren't being persecuted because we aren't putting ourselves in a situation where we could be persecuted 

you see actions don't always speak louder than words living a life that reflects the Gospel isn't ALL

 

We are asked if our lives should look like Jesus yes but we also need to tell people why our lives look like Jesus

 trust me we don't look that good 

first we need to remember who the real enemy is then rejoice when we do suffer persecution Praise God in our suffering remember our suffering ends when we enter heaven and continue to do good by Loving even the difficult people and not to avoid suffering share the Gospel relentlessly