When I Am Afraid...

1 Peter 3 better of what the Apostle Peter is saying to us. So you follow as I begin in 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, Bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 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.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Let's pray. Father, please open this text to us. Open it more than just an understanding of the argument of it, but open it up in a way that penetrates our hearts so that we examine our own fears, so we take heed to what this says in the midst of fear help us father to the end that your name will be glorified we earnestly pray this and ask this in the name of jesus our lord amen now those of you have children always know what it like It time for them to go to bed and you say head on upstairs and they stand at the bottom of the steps And they say go on.

And they won't move. Say go on and go to bed. And they won't move. Say what is the problem? And what do they say? They say it's dark.

I don't want to go upstairs. I'm afraid of the dark. Right? Of course, at this time, you know, you're kind of tired of that business. You're almost ready to give them their own flashlights, but that's not going to help any. You come alongside and you reassure them that there's nothing in the dark that's going to harm them.

You know, you even flip on the light and say, has anything changed? Oh, there's light here. Do you see any monsters? Do you see anything in here? No. Turn the light off, right?

Has that changed any? Apparently it has for them. But you come alongside and you reassure them and you try to help them understand. Help them understand that there's nothing in the dark that will hurt them. Now, our Heavenly Father is much like that. He offers assurance to his children when they are afraid.

In fact, in 1 Peter 3, verses 13-17, you find God assuring his children when they are afraid. And here we are, as God's children, living in a world of darkness. But unlike our children, there is danger in the darkness. There is danger in spiritual darkness. The enemies of God are in that darkness, and yes, they will harm us. We have seen, if you look at this book, and it would be nice to have read the whole book, but if you look at this whole book, you will see that the enemies that we find here in the spiritual darkness that Peter speaks of, will accuse you of evil, they will slander you, they will make things hard for you.

Some of them, he mentions, may even beat you. Some, he says, may persecute you. They'll say all kinds of evil against you. They'll revile you. They will hurt you. Some even may be as close as your husband.

Some may even be your boss. But there are enemies of Christ occupying many different places in our lives, and we can be afraid of them when we see what they going to do to us We can also see what God commands here As we began reading what did we notice We began reading that we can't seek revenge. The answer to it is not to fight back with the same kind of weapons.

In fact, God commands us to do good to our enemies. He commands us to bless them when they revile us. When someone at work comes at you and just tears you apart with his tongue. God expects you then before the end of the shift to bless that person somehow, to go find that person and bless him with your tongue. He says instead of doing evil back, we're to do good.

He says we're to seek peace with those who hate us. And in the face of that kind of onslaught against us and we fight back with what appears to us to be kind of weak weapons, we may be tempted to fear. we may cry out to God oh Lord you've exposed the plots you've exposed the strategies the evil workings of our enemies and yet you have forbidden us to retaliate and we are afraid have you ever been there maybe you're there now maybe that's exactly what you're facing and so to us then in verses 13 through 17 God comes alongside with his assurances and even his commands at these times of trouble. So let's look at those verses again before we dive into them.

Chapter 3, verses 13 through 17. Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 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.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. When you are afraid, God gives you some assurances. That's what we find in verse 13 and the first part of verse 14. When you are afraid, God comes alongside with some assurances, with some promises. Now, he's coming out of verse 12. Verse 12 of this chapter comes from Psalm 34.

God is attentive to his people His eyes are open His ears are open All right But he is against those who do evil And from that he draws out comfort from God And the first thing he says is that, the first thing he assures you about is that those who do evil cannot harm you in any real sense. Those who do evil to you cannot harm you in any real sense. Does he mean that if you're careful to turn from evil, if you're careful to do good to those who do evil, if you seek peace, is he saying then that there will be no persecution and no pain?

And the answer is no, that's not what he's saying. He can't possibly be saying that. In chapter 1, verse 6, he says you're suffering all kinds of trials and you've got all these griefs. In chapter 2, verse 12, which we looked at last week, we're accused of evil. People are saying wrong things about us. Chapter 2, verse 15, indicates that we'll be slandered.

Chapter 3, verse 1, he talks to wives who are suffering in their marriage, suffering enough so that in verse 6, he says, do not give way to fear. In chapter 2, verses 19 through 20, talking to people who have actually been beaten by their masters. Chapter 3, verse 9, it's obvious that Christians are being persecuted and slandered. And then in the very next verse, verse 14, he immediately speaks of suffering.

So he's not saying, he's not saying then, That if you turn from evil and do good and seek peace, you're not going to suffer. That can't be what he's saying. That can't be what he's saying. You know, several years ago, it's been now 25 years ago that I actually preached through this book. 25 years ago. I was in my office and I was arguing with Peter.

I'll never forget it. I was arguing with him. I came to this verse and I'm saying, are you serious, Peter? Are you serious here? No harm is going to come to those who are zealous to do good. Peter, just last week I was telling everybody how even if their masters beat them, getting beaten, they're supposed to submit, develop a submissive spirit.

God, are you serious? Peter, come on. What do you mean no one's going to harm you if you're zealous for good? You've just told us all the horrible things that can happen to us. What are you talking about? You know what he's talking about?

No lasting damage. What the world would call psychological damage is yours. You will not suffer down deep. If you're zealous to do good, you will not be irreparably harmed. You will not be permanently damaged if you are zealous to do good in the face of evil. That's what he means.

That's the only possible meaning he could have. Right? What are you afraid of today? Oh man, my husband verbally assaults me. all this emotional abuse i'm going through i'm going to be a basket case my boss is just constantly on my case he is determined to get me to quit if i don't quit man i don't know if i'm gonna make it right i'm gonna go crazy even on a broader scale if we let all those unbelievers say the things they're saying about us in the media we are doomed the truth will never get out they'll turn more people against us we've got to get busy right and that oftentimes involves writing the letters and protesting and digging up dirt in our opponents and doing the same things that the people of the world do so in the face of evil we're afraid of harm and damage because of the harshness of the evil that we encounter.

We tend to think there's no way that we're not going to be damaged from this. And God says clearly, you do not need to fear harm if you are zealous to do good. Instead of busying ourselves writing those letters and making those marches, we should be zealous for returning good for evil. There's a place for letting righteousness have its voice. But when we act towards evil, we need to return good for evil.

We don't need to respond with reviling. We don't need to respond with hurtful things. We need to respond with good. You may be in a situation right now where you're saying, I'm going to go crazy if I don't get out of this. And I'm here to tell you, if you're one of Christ and you are zealous to do good, you won't go crazy. You will not.

Who can harm you? no long, no one can harm you so long as you are zealous for responding with good. That is what Peter is saying To me folks this is an incredibly radical statement We live in a world right I reading a book right now okay I reading a book right now written by a very famous Christian counselor Title of the book? Emotionally Destructive Marriages.

Now, what is said in that book? Right now in the title, what is it saying? your marriage can destroy you that's the first message you get before you ever open the book some of you may be in marriages that will destroy you and God is here saying if you're zealous for good no matter whether it's marriage or work or out there in the world and we're being reviled you will not suffer irreparable damage if you are zealous to do good look at Joseph you ever think about Joseph here's a man who was sold into a slavery by his abusive brothers thrown into jail because of a lie unjustly accused unjustly condemned and in prison and forgotten there until by God's providence Pharaoh hears about him now I want to ask you is is that a tough situation if you went through that what do you think you'd end up as all right Did he suffer? Yes.

Was he persecuted? Absolutely. Was he slandered? Yeah, he was slandered. Did he suffer pain, physical pain? Yes.

Did all of this produce a crooked man bent on vengeance, seething with anger, hating God and living entirely for his survival? No. Did it produce a despairing, frightening, paralyzed, hopelessly confused man? No. Why not? Because when you look at the course of his life, he was zealous.

He was zealous. He gave himself to do good. What happened when his brother sold him into slavery? What did he do? He worked his heart out for his new master. he worked hard for him so much so that he ended up running the whole household right what happened when that lie landed him in jail what happened same thing he was zealous to do God's put me here I've got a ministry here I've got to work he ends up running the prison right He forgotten He just keeps on You see And then he works zealously for Pharaoh.

And what happens when his brothers show up? Certainly he does a few things to help them learn a lesson. But what does he do? He ends up loving them, caring for them, and caring for their families. What could he have done? He said, man, you did this to me.

I am the second most powerful man in the world. Guess what's going to happen to you? That's not what happened, though. He was zealous to do good to them. Through all the ill treatment that Joseph suffered, who harmed him? No one.

Did he suffer all kinds of things? Yes. But was he harmed? No. Why? Because he was zealous to do good.

Far from being damaged through all those sufferings, he faithfully clung to his God. He forgave his brother. He cared for their families. As a Christian, if you are blessing when people revile you, if you are doing good to people who treat you badly, if you are seeking peace, no one is going to harm you. That's what God says here. God assures us, know this, no one who perpetuates suffering against you will ever harm you. will ever damage you if you are zealous for good.

Now God goes on to assure you that those who do good and suffer are blessed. First part of verse 14. Have no fear, or I'm sorry, but even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. You may indeed suffer for being zealous for God. The suffering may not go away. you may continue to suffer you may return blessing for insult you may return good for evil you may obey God and still suffer again let's look at Joseph why was he thrown in jail he wasn't thrown in jail in spite of his obedience no he was thrown in jail because of his obedience to God wasn he this woman tried to seduce him and he said no I cannot dishonor God that way And because he was obedient to God because he did the right thing, he ended up in jail.

So doing the right thing doesn't deliver you from the suffering. Know that. God's honest with us, isn't he? Even if you should suffer, what? You're blessed. how do we normally think when we're suffering? Do you feel blessed?

Because we always put that blessing in terms of feeling, don't we? I'm not blessed, I feel pretty unhappy. Me, blessed? I'm just kind of a bit angry. Me, blessed? I'm being treated unfairly.

What does he mean when he says you're still blessed? You're in a position of blessing. You still have God. Is that enough for you, by the way? two of the verses that just constantly ring in my ears i would say these are my life verses if they weren't so convicting right you only pick life verses that make you feel good but this verse these verses sum it all up psalm 73 25 and 26 whom have i in heaven but you note, and earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Let's see. I think if I lost my wife tomorrow I'd be pretty sad, which is okay, but would I be able to say at that point, God, you're enough? Right? I would hope so. Whom have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire beside you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion, my treasure forever.

Is God enough? You see, we're in a position of blessing. We are connected to the living God. We may suffer, but we have God. We have God. Right?

I have an inheritance. He's already talked about that in chapter 1. You may be suffering now, but you have an inheritance that cannot be taken away from you, cannot be corrupted. It's held in heaven for you. It's just waiting for you. It's there.

We are the people of God, chapter 2, of access to God, and whom God will someday vindicate. We're in a place of blessing. Would you rather suffer now, having God, delighting in His worship and communion with Him, looking forward to your glorious inheritance and communion with God, or would you rather have an easy life with no suffering but no relationship with God?

What would you rather have? That's the question here. And he says, you're in the place of blessing if you're suffering like this. so God gives us this assurance no one's going to harm you you're in the place of blessing let's go on when you're afraid God gives you two commands so first he starts up by assuring us no one's going to irreparably damage you if you're zealous to do good you are actually in the place of blessing all right when you're afraid then God not only gives you those assurances he gives you two commands.

Let's continue. Second part of verse 14. Have no fear of them, there's the command, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you're slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

The first command is this, do not fear your circumstances, rather fear Christ. Do not fear your circumstances, rather fear Christ. Peter here quotes Isaiah chapter 8. I want you to turn back there because he does something interesting as he quotes that Old Testament passage. Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8 verses 12 and 13. do not call conspiracy well let me verse 11 for the Lord spoke thus to me to to Isaiah with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people saying do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread but the Lord of hosts him you shall honor as holy let him be your fear and let him be your dread here what going on judah is in trouble israel the northern kingdom is getting the best of it and the syrians are allied with Israel and so they casting about for an alliance They going to go with Assyria They going to form an alliance with Assyria so they can keep these enemies at bay And they were afraid And so God says to Isaiah, don't be frightened like all the others.

Rather, set apart or regard as holy the Lord of hosts. which by the way Lord of hosts can be translated Lord Almighty the Lord of hosts means the Lord of armies which is often translated the Lord Almighty the Lord of all power and he says you don't have to fear you have the Lord of all parties set him apart the Lord of all Almighty set him apart in your hearts so he's saying God's saying the same thing to us Peter says don't be frightened in these circumstances. Do we have an oppressive government? A harsh husband?

An incredibly cruel master? Someone treating you cruelly? And you're afraid to do good and to pursue peace? He says, so in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord, as ruler, if you will. Okay? In your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, or set Him apart as the Lord.

The Lord Almighty. Rather than letting those circumstances dominate you regard Christ as Lord and Peter changed the wording a little bit he doesn't say Lord Almighty what does he say he says Christ the Lord he substituted Jesus for Lord Almighty you are to regard Christ himself as your Almighty God how do you set apart Jesus that way in your hearts. What he's saying here is the fear that will cast out all your other fears is the fear of Christ, not meaning being scared to death of Jesus, but setting him apart as the Lord.

You've got to see him. You've got to start viewing the circumstances where Jesus is Lord. He is supreme. He is almighty. Jesus is. He is your God.

He has covenanted with you to be with you always. Isn't that what he says in Matthew 28? Go out and make disciples and what? I will be with you till the end of the age. I will walk with you till the end of the age. I will be with you.

He's covenanted to be with us all the way Why are we afraid Jesus is there Jesus is with us Remember the cross guarantee What the cross guarantee You find that in Romans chapter 8 verses 31 and 32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, what? Who can be against us? he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things if God is for us who can be against us how do I know he's for us he sent his son and if you sent his son he's going to give you everything that you need if he he gave you the greatest thing you need he's going to give you everything else you need why are you afraid set apart Christ as the Lord Almighty in your hearts and then you know what I love these verses they're found in I read them this morning in Isaiah 51 when I read those earlier when I read these verses I see myself on a ladder painting my house and here's why at that moment in my life which was quite some time ago I guess the first time we painted the house there was something going on and it was scaring me to death a thing I had to face a person I probably had to face if I remember the situation right and I was reading in Isaiah at the time and I came across these verses I am he who comforts you who are you that you're afraid of man who dies and the next phrase, of the Son of Man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your Maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth that you fear continually all day long, the oppressor.

Do you see what he's saying? How many of you are scared to death of your lawn? Right? Man is nothing more than a blade of grass. Why are you so afraid? I mean, that really struck me.

It's like, get the lawnmower and that's it, right? So why am I afraid of man? He's nothing but a blade of grass. And who's God? He's the one who spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. That's my God.

That's grass that's threatening me. What's he saying? He says, why are you afraid? And by the way, he's saying this. When he talks about you afraid of man who dies who like a blade of grass He talking about the Assyrian emperor This guy who can wipe out a nation can march in wipe everybody out deport everybody do all kinds of cruel things, he's nothing but a blade of grass.

I'm the one who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Why are you afraid? You see, get the grass perspective. Get the grass perspective on people. We set apart the Lord, Jesus as Almighty. He is the one.

He is the one who we have to see in our hearts as this way. So that's the first command. Don't be afraid of the circumstances. See Jesus as Lord. The second command in verses 15 and 16 is be prepared to speak, but do it carefully. Now what happens if we're living this way?

What happens if we're handling suffering significantly different than unbelievers? And this is what Peter is telling us here. He's told us over and over again, suffering's your way, you've gone through suffering, but, what? You return good, you return blessing, you seek peace, all these things. We're going to stand out. the point of contact with unbelievers is our hope.

It's our hope. If you're handling suffering in the way that God describes here, believing his promise that no irreparable damage will be done, you will suffer, but you won't be damaged goods. If you believe that, if you do what he tells us to do with our enemies, you will look different. you will look like people of hope. You will not be those kind of people then who are moping around saying, we're suffering.

What an awful thing. This is horrible. Look what they're doing to us. Instead, you're fighting back with good. People are going to notice and they're going to say, what's going on with you? What's going on with you?

Where is your hope lie? Because he's already talked about, where's our hope? We have an inheritance. We're suffering now, but there's coming a day where we're going to have it all. Right? And people are going to know, where is this hope coming from?

How can you handle this? When the people at work see how you handle your abusive boss, and it's different than the way they handle it, it's even different than the way the handbook says you ought to handle it, okay? They're going to ask what's going on. I had my brother-in-law one time say, you know, Tim, I read 1 Peter, it says people are going to ask us for the hope that we have, and people don't ask me much. and my response was well i don't know that we're suffering enough that it's showing up but when suffering does show up how do you handle it do you end up despairing or do you end up as with hope you remember what the apostle paul said in romans chapter five he says this not only this but we rejoice in our sufferings which to me is like what right you come home after your boss has just chewed you out and say man i'm i'm rejoicing today we should believe it or not not only this paul says but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that our suffering produces perseverance perseverance character and character hope at the end of the chain, believe it or not, what Paul says there, at the end of the chain of suffering is hope.

We handle things differently. And because of that, people are going to say, what's going on with you? What's the hope that you have? And we can give them an answer. We can give them an answer. Here's what we can say.

You know why? Because no matter what's going on with the boss, God says, he's not going to harm me. Right? Yeah, my marriage is really, really, really difficult. But no irreparable damage is going to be done. My marriage can't destroy me.

Yeah, people in my neighborhood absolutely despise me. And they're doing things that are awful. but you know what I'm going to fight back with good do you think people will notice that absolutely you know what people don't notice us Christians when everything is going well they notice it when our world is falling apart and we not falling apart with it that when they ask you for the hope that in you And how do you do it How do you make that defense He says with a gentle spirit That is don be arrogant, don't be self-assertive, serenity in the midst of strife. You're going to be gentle, right?

I'm not going to say, oh, so you notice, huh? Yeah, I'll tell you what, if I had my way, but you know god told me to do it differently that's not a good defense right you want to be have a gentle spirit you want to do it with respect when people come to us and they ask us we respond with respect always approach your adversary with respect you never look down your nose you never look down your nose and say i'm better than you look at how i'm handling suffering you've just defeated the whole thing you're going to look at them with respect and then lastly with with a clear conscience. That means conscientiously maintaining a consistently good conduct in the midst of your suffering.

Then you'll have boldness and confidence in speaking. What happens? The enemies are put to shame. That's not how we think. I'm going to put them to shame. I'm going to give them back twice as much as they gave to me, as opposed to, you know what?

I'm going to go back and I'm going to bless that guy. I'm going to tell him how much I appreciate him. This guy that's just tearing me up at work, I'm going to go back to him and say, you know what? I want to tell you, I appreciate the way you work around here. You make my job actually easier when you get done what you have to get done. Right?

Wow. To that husband who's very harsh, you go and you just love him like you never loved anybody before. What's going to happen? You put them to shame. They won't know what to do. And they're only put to shame if you live that way.

And when they ask you, you are gentle and respectful and consistent. Verse 17, the last point that God tells us, remember, you occupy the position of advantage. Even if you do suffer, what? For it is better to suffer for doing good. Notice, it's better to suffer because you're doing good. You're suffering because you're doing the right thing.

It's better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil Do you realize it better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil If you suffer for doing evil you getting what you deserve If you suffer for doing good, that's when you're going to stand out. You're in a place of advantage. You're better off because you're blessed in God's eyes.

You're highly favored. You'll be exalted while God's adversaries will be shamed. And when Christ appears, guess what happens? I love what Colossians chapter 3 verse 4 says. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. You will appear with him glorified.

That is, all those people, if they're not won, if they're not won over, guess what? When Jesus is revealed, they're going to look and they're going to be blown away because you're going to be glorified like Jesus and they're going to stand there and say, I guess he was right. You're in a place of advantage. So are you afraid of the darkness? Are you afraid?

It appears that the enemies of God are getting bolder every day. I think the things that we're looking at here are things we need to hear, given the way our culture is going and at the speed at which it's going we can be afraid of the darkness that's approaching. The monsters are real. They are real. And it appears that they are getting bolder every day.

And like a child all we can see are the monsters. But our Heavenly Father says don't be afraid. there is nothing that will damage you. There's nothing there that can really harm you. And he points us to his son who is the king, the Lord Almighty. Do you see your king? Do you see him before he was on the throne?

Where was he? He was hanging on a cross. He was crucified and shamed by the enemies of darkness. Right? he suffered Did he suffer irreparable damage No The very lowest point is when he defeated the darkness He defeated those enemies at the very moment it appeared that they had won And he now reigns in glory as the Lord, moving all things for your good.

So, suffer differently. Do good to the enemy. be zealous for it and you will not suffer harm and they will ask you why Father would you help us to do these things Lord God on our own it is impossible to return good for evil to return blessing for reviling to be a submissive person in the midst of injustice Father help us help us not to think of us but help us to think of your glory please Lord God work this here in this congregation we don't know Lord what's coming our way we may not face incredible suffering we may, we don't know there's all kinds of things in between but the suffering that we do have help us to handle it differently whether it's low grade or over the top suffering We pray that no matter what kind it is, we'll handle that suffering in a different way so that the glory of God is revealed. So help us to do that, Lord.

Lord, don't let this sermon be one that just lasts for a day and we all look back on it and think that it put some things together nicely for us. But use it to transform us, we ask. So that the name of Christ will be exalted. our enemies shamed, and even some of them won. And so we thank you and pray that you would do that in Jesus' name. For his sake, amen.

Thank you.