Sermon Cloud

Suffering as Evangelism II

 

1 Peter 3:13-17

 

Grace Fellowship Church

 

January 7, 2007

 

 

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts regard 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; ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

 

Introduction

 

Many people are nervous when it comes to evangelism.  I remember evangelism class at Midwestern.  They sent us to downtown Kansas City to approach people at the bus stops.  Talk about intimidating.  Here are people that we did not know, trying to blend in at the bus station, minding their own business and we are to approach these folks to evangelize them.  They do not know us and we do not know them.  No wonder that most people including myself were nervous.  You would be also.

 

Evangelism is intimidating to evangelist and evangelee.  But this has always been the case.  But we must ask the question of what real evangelism looks like.  How does God desire us to evangelize?  Verses 15-17 of our text helps us greatly in our pursuit of sharing the Gospel with those around us. 

 

Last week we saw that when we are faced with persecution we are first not to fear our persecutors.  Second we are not to be troubled by them.  Third we are to obey these two commands by obeying the third command which is to remember who is in control.  Verse 15 teaches us that we are to regard Christ as Lord in our hearts and as a result of that in the midst of persecution evangelism can take place. 

 

Squarely in the context of 1 Peter we find suffering evangelism.  Let me say to you that approaching a stranger at a bus stop is much easier than suffering evangelism.  Walking a neighborhood doing a religious survey is easier.  Knocking on doors with the intention of “soul winning” is easier.  Suffering evangelism takes patience.  It takes a trust in the Sovereign Lord who allows the suffering and evangelism to take place. 

 

Brother Tom sent me a link to a website that I have found extremely helpful this week.  The link took me to what many believe to be a late second century AD document written from a Christian to a man who was interested in understanding Christianity.  The man who wrote it is simply known as Mathetes which is the Greek word for disciple.  The recipient of the letter is a man named Diognetus.  Let me read you the introduction.

 

Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in, and what form of religion they observe, so as all to look down upon the world itself, and despise death, while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks, nor hold to the superstition of the Jews; and what is the affection which they cherish among themselves; and why, in fine, this new kind or practice [of piety] has only now entered into the world, and not long ago; I cordially welcome this thy desire, and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak, that, above all, I may hear you have been edified, and to you so to hear, that I who speak may have no cause of regret for having done so.

Allow me to read to you two sections from this letter.  It will sound a lot like 1 Peter.  But I want you to understand that this was what the Christian life was like in the early church. 

Chapter V.-The Manners of the Christians.

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear that of the church in our nation today?) They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Chapter VI.-The Relation of Christians to the World.

To sum up all in one word-what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

Let me reread those last two sentences.  Now I want you to understand that I do not want to be persecuted.  I do not in my flesh desire pain.  But if the church is going to survive in the western world then persecution must come.  We must as true Christians living in a world that loves the flesh live according to the spirit and by doing that we draw attention to ourselves.  The Lord Jesus lived a very public life.  So did the disciples.  They went out into the world and lived their lives for God which invited the reviling of the lost world.  Christians refused to follow the gods of the Roman world and were blamed when droughts came or some other disaster.  They refused to keep the customs of the Jews and were blamed when things happened there. 

 

And today in our churches we have a movement afoot that tells pastors that they need to be students of the popular culture so they can better identify with the world.  In that identification they can reach the world, and I quote, “where they are” as opposed to reaching them I guess, “where they are not.”  But this is all a disguise in my opinion.  These pastors and self appointed theologians simply want to be in the world and of the world.  They think like the world.  They act like the world.  They act like fools most of the time.  My Bible says in John 15:18-20, ¹⁸ "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…    

 

My Bible also says in 1 John 2:15-17, ¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

James 4:4 is even stronger.  ⁴ You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

 

Evangelism will never be done by wallowing in the pigsty of the world.  Ask the prodigal son.  Evangelism can only be done by living a holy life in front of a watching world that is going to hate you because of it.  This business of befriending the world by becoming like them in order to evangelize them is nonsense and cannot be justified by Scripture. 

 

In the Bible suffering and persecution results in evangelism.  The foolishness of talking about how people are lonely or unfulfilled or a myriad of human needs and emotions must be discarded.  Jesus did not die to make anyone happy.  He did not die to make you economically comfortable.  He did not die so that you can feel like you are fulfilled and have purpose.  He died to rescue you from sin, death, and hell which you could never rescue yourself from.  In this redemption we are given the gift of suffering.  Listen to Philippians 1:29-30.

²⁹ For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, ³⁰ experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

 

The word granted in the text is the Greek verb charizomai and it means to freely give, grant, or bestow. 

You may like Job at some point cry out and ask why the righteous suffer.  You may like David ask the same question as to why the wicked prosper.  Your world may seem fine and when you are converted it may fall completely apart.  You could lose your job, your family, and even your life.  Remember what Mathetes told Diognetus?

The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number.³¹ God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

So as Christians we should expect suffering. It is a gift.  But we should also expect that suffering to result in evangelism. 

 

PNP

 

Today from our text, as the second part of this message, I want you to see the first of three preparations for suffering evangelism.  Over the next few weeks we are going to camp out on this theme and flesh it out. 

1.  We must be spiritually prepared.

2.  We must be sure in our proclamation.

3.  We must be prepared to proclaim the gospel with the right spirit. 

 

Purpose

 

My purpose in preaching this passage is that we will understand suffering and persecution, welcome it, and take every opportunity that comes along to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is preparation for the fight of faith.  This is getting your mind right so that when affliction comes you will not turn back.  You will not deny the Lord who bought you.  Listen to Hebrews 10:32-39.

³² But remember the former days, when , after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, ³³ partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. ³⁴ For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. ³⁵ Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ³⁷ FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE,
HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. ³⁸ BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. ³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

 

 

God willed that His Son would come and suffer.  God willed that His Son would have people that would suffer also.  And by the suffering of Christ and the suffering of His people the Gospel would be proclaimed. 

 

RPNP

 

So look with me at the first of these three preparations for suffering evangelism. 

 

1.  We must be spiritually prepared.

 

¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy,

 

 

Peter tells us to regard Christ as holy in our hearts.  We are to remember that it is Christ who is in control.  That is where the spiritual preparation comes into play.  This command is simply to keep us from having a flippant attitude toward the Lord.  If Christ is not first and foremost in our lives then we will have reason to stumble.  If we are not focused on the Lord, as Hebrews tells us, to fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith then we will be ensnared or trapped by sin and in this particular context by the persecutors.  We will be tempted to deny the Lord. 

 

Last week we talked about the difference between the fear of God and the fear of man.  People who fear man more than God will cave under human pressure.  But the one who fears the Lord and understands that to deny the Lord is to also be denied by Him will stand in the face of danger knowing that God is in control. 

 

Peter is telling us that our hearts must be properly fixed.  And they should be fixed on Christ.  We should regard Him as holy. 

 

I am convinced that what the Lord has given His people is an Isaiah or Jeremiah type ministry.  In other words they will be threatened and mocked.  They will be persecuted but they are not allowed to stop speaking.  Remember Jeremiah?  Listen to Jeremiah 20:9-11.

⁹ But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it. ¹⁰ For I have heard the whispering of many, "Terror on every side! Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!" All my trusted friends, Watching for my fall, say: "Perhaps he will be deceived , so that we may prevail against him And take our revenge on him." ¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a dread champion; Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed , With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

 

 

And what we have to get over is the fact that our evangelism will be largely, in human terms, ineffective.  We have to come to grips with Matthew 22:14.  “Many are called but few are chosen.”  Many will hear the Gospel call to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus but few are actually chosen to walk the narrow road that leads to salvation.  Jesus said, “Wide is the way that leads to destruction but narrow is the path that leads to salvation and few there be that finds it.” 

 

The modern church and evangelism movements are all success and goal oriented.  Their desire is for mass numbers.  However this is not the biblical model.  And I will show you this in just a few minutes from our text. 

 

Remember last week I told you this verse came almost directly from Isaiah 8?  There is comfort in this.  Those that the Lord has marked out for salvation will regard Him as holy in their hearts and the promise is great.  Listen to Isaiah 8:13 and the first part of verse 14. 

¹³ "It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread. ¹⁴ "Then He shall become a sanctuary;

But there is a promise to the opposite in Isaiah for those who will not believe. 

But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem . ¹⁵ "Many will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will even be snared and caught."

 

The idea here is that there are few who will be saved.  When you get to verses 18-22 of our text Peter is using two examples of prepared hearts that proclaimed the Gospel.  Many have made more out of these verses than Peter probably intended.  They tend to separate that passage from the rest of the book and come up with some strange second chance theology. 

 

Scripture must be understood within its context.  Scripture has a context within the sentence, within the paragraph, within the chapter, within the book, and within the whole Bible.  The context for verses 18-22 go back to chapter 2:20-25.  That context has to do with suffering unjustly.  So does our context here in verse 15-22. The former had to do with slaves being mistreated for doing good.  Our context today has to do with Christians in general being mistreated for doing good.  In both contexts Peter uses Christ as an example or illustration.  Look at chapter 2:20-25.

²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ²² He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³ When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

 

In other words, the Lord Jesus had the proper mindset of regarding the Lord, His Father, as holy and being obedient to the point of death on a cross so that we His children could be reconciled to God.  Peter said He committed no sin yet was punished.  He reviled yet did not revile in return.  When he suffered he did not threaten.  But what did he do?  Look at verse 23.  ²³ When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

 

 

I am very sure that Peter had this same mindset.  He was willing to suffer so that God’s elect would be saved.  Paul had that mindset and Peter is telling us that we are to have that same mindset.  This mindset is what keeps us prepared for suffering evangelism. 

 

Now look at 3:18-22.  Much has been said about this particular passage that has Jesus preaching to souls from the days of Noah held in prison for some second chance of salvation.  But I want to show you that this section has everything to do with God’s grace and patience toward His elect people and has nothing to do with some mythical prison preaching of Christ.  Notice verse 18. 

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, (Notice that Christ did all this to save us.  Then in verse 21 it is Baptism that saves us.  So what happens in between verse 18 and verse 21 concerns us.) 

 being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit  ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,  ,(Many have mistakenly assumed that Jesus between his death and resurrection went to preach to these trapped spirits.  This is not that at all.  This is the example we are to follow.  The Lord Jesus said Himself that no one could take His life but he laid it down.  And He would take it up again.  But there is more.  Jesus often spoke of His death and going away and promised to send the Holy Spirit who would convict the world of sin and righteousness.  The Great Commission was given after the resurrection to be obeyed after the ascension.  Jesus promised in the Great Commission that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age. 

So who are these spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient?  These were the people that Peter was writing to.  These spirits in prison are us the elect of God.  We are the ones that as chapter 2:25 says have returned to the shepherd of our souls.  We are the ones, whom through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ have been redeemed from the prison of our own sin. 

 

Colossians 1:13 says that he, God the Father, rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His son.  And then Colossians 1:21-22 says, ²¹ And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, ²² yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach

 

 

Look at verse 20 of our text.  It provides us with an important clue.  ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey,

 

Understand if your formerly did not obey, that means you are no longer disobedient.  Peter is talking about us who are now redeemed through Christ’s death and are now obedient to the Gospel.  Then Peter illustrates the patience of God and His love and care for the elect.  The example is so we will have patience as well and understand that many are evangelized but few are elect. 

 

Here is the illustration.  Look at the rest of verse 20. 

 

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.

 

Notice out of all the millions of people that lived on the earth in the days of Noah only eight were saved. 

 

Let me give you a few more examples.  When the angels appeared to the shepherds when the Lord Jesus was born they did not appear to all the shepherds in Judea .  Just a select few.  There were wise men from the East whom the Lord had graciously shown the way to the Savior but were there more wise men in the east who did not see the way?  Jesus in His earthly ministry healed many people but he did not heal them all.  Paul was prevented by the Holy Spirit from going into certain areas to evangelize.

When Paul arrived in Philippi he went to a prayer gathering at the river.  The Bible does not tell us how many people were there but something happened to illustrate my point.  Listen to Acts 16:14.  ¹⁴ A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

 

 

Here is where Peter ties all of this together for us and he uses God’s patience in the days of Noah as his example.  But you have to stay with me.  Listen to Genesis 6:5-8.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky ; for I am sorry that I have made them." ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

 

 

Listen to Genesis 6:17-18.

¹⁷ "Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. ¹⁸ "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

 

 

Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2:5 that Noah was a herald of righteousness during the time before the flood. Because of Peter’s words many have assumed that Noah was a preacher who told everybody that he saw that the earth would be flooded and they needed to get on the ark.  I have even heard preachers use this as an illustration and talk about how when the rain started to fall that the people started beating on the ark door to be let in, but it was too late.  But you won’t find that at all in Scripture.  That works for scaring someone down an isle during an invitation. 

 

But what you will find is Hebrews 11:7 that sheds a little more light on our context.  Listen as I read.

 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

 

 

Did you notice that?  By Noah’s obedience to the warning of the Lord he condemned the world.  By his faith in God and His Word Noah brought condemnation on the unbelieving world. 

 

Here is the tie in.  By your obedience to the Word of God you bring condemnation on the world.  When you are holy as the Lord is holy that is an offense to the world.  When you are submissive to the governmental authorities that is an offense.  When you obey those in authority over you then you have offended those who live in rebellion.  Wives when you are submissive to your husbands you offend the feminazis.  Husbands when you love your wives and honor her and treat her with respect you offend the world that tells you real men never grow up.  When they persecute you and you bless in return you offend them.  When you keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceit you offend.  When you turn away from evil and do good that is offensive to a sin sick world.  In other words when you act like what a Christian is supposed to act like then you can bet your life that the lost world is not going to find you to be one of them.  And if you are not one of them then they are going to make trouble for you.     

 

I know that it has been a while since we started that first point but let me remind you what Peter is teaching us.  The point is that we are to be spiritually prepared for suffering evangelism.  We are spiritually prepared by understanding that our suffering is going to do one of two things.  One it may bring a lost person to Christ.  Paul said in Colossians 1:24, ²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

 

Paul is not saying that Jesus did not pay it all he was simply saying that his own suffering God was using to bring more and more into the Kingdom.  But there is a second thing that the example of Noah gives us. 

 

When we react to suffering in a godly manner, proclaiming the Gospel, we must understand that the majority of people will be under God’s righteous condemnation.  Sinful man is without excuse. 

 

Let me give you a word of warning here.  When you received Christ and submitted yourself for baptism, this is what you signed up for.  Romans 6:3 asks the question, didn’t you know that all of us that have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death?  You signed up for a death sentence.  You signed up for suffering.  You signed up to be reviled and not to revile in return.  You signed up to be ridiculed and persecuted and possibly even killed.  You signed up to take up that instrument of death, the cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.  You signed up for having the same mind that was in the Lord as he submitted himself to the point of death even death on the cross. 

 

Is this radical?  Yes.  But is it true? Yes.  Look at verse 21. 

²¹ 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, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

 

 

So when we suffer we have the opportunity to bring people to God.  This is the mindset that we must have.   I don’t want you to forget that we have been called to this. 

Next week, Lord willing, we will see the final two points of this series.