Living in the Household of God
Download MP3If you'll open your bibles with me, we're in 1st Peter chapter 4, and we'll begin in verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
Speaker 1:Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify god in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of god. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome righteous are scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 1:It's to be done. Let's pray. Father, we do come before you, and we bless your name. We thank you, lord, for the gift of gathering together to worship you, and we thank you especially for the gift of your word. Father, thank you for inhabiting your word, and thank you for living in your word.
Speaker 1:And we pray that you would come, that you would speak to us tonight through your servant, Jeff. Jesus, would you just hold our mind's attention and would you hold our hearts affection, God, as we sit here and we know you. In this, your name, we pray. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:Thank you, Maui. Hey, everybody. I'm Jeff. Yep. It's nice to see you all.
Jeffrey Heine:My wife, Jessica, who's playing guitar up there, we, were part of the the church when it began in Joel's living room, Joel and Lauren's living room, about a little over 6 years ago. We're excited tonight to be welcoming 26, new members into our church family tonight. And, if I haven't met you before, I'd love to meet you after the service. When I was a small boy, I wanted to become a preacher slash magician when I grew up. And I am halfway there.
Jeffrey Heine:I've got 1 year left in my, doctorate, and then it's off to magic school. I'm very excited about that. But, I love both of them too much, the idea of being those two things too much. And so I just I had this idea of I could I could do both. I think part of the the desire to be a preacher had to do with the respect that I had for my pastor growing up.
Jeffrey Heine:Doctor Willis Henson in Paducah, Kentucky, and my mom still has 8 millimeter video of me standing behind a TV tray at 3 or 4 years old preaching to my family. And it mostly, was me repeating some of the same phrases over and over again, because, Doctor. Henson had a couple of go to phrases. All the good preachers have their little go to phrases, and and he certainly had his. But one that I would repeat often was at some point towards the end of the sermon, the last little bit, right before we all tried to beat the Methodists to Red Lobster, we as you do as you would do in those days, is that he would he would look at us and he would say, in his, Southern Baptist, timbre, he would say, now listen to me carefully.
Jeffrey Heine:And I picked up on that as a small boy. So as I stood behind the TV tray preaching to my family, it was a big bible that I couldn't read, I would keep saying, now listen to me carefully. Now he did that to call our attention and to specify that he was going to say something that he really wanted us to hear. He had something important to say, and he wanted us to pay attention. Well, Peter is doing something quite similar here in chapter 4.
Jeffrey Heine:He begins yet again a paragraph saying, beloved. He's doing that for a couple of different reasons. One, he wants to let them know about his affection for them, his love for them, which is an extension of Christ's love for them, his first listeners, these first century Roman citizens in Asia Minor. He wanted them to know that he loved them. He also wanted them to know that what he was about to say, he's saying out of love.
Jeffrey Heine:Because what he's about to say is another one of those hard sayings. The last time he started off by calling them beloved and then told them to submit themselves under unjust authorities. That was a hard word for them to hear. But he wanted them to know that they were loved, and it was because he loved them he was going to say some difficult things. And so here we are again.
Jeffrey Heine:Again, he calls out to those first listeners and to us, and he calls us beloved. So we'll pay attention, but we also will keep in mind that he's saying these things because he loves us, as hard as they might be to hear. He's making this kind of last statement on suffering. So much of the letter has been about suffering, and he's bringing it up yet again. And in this last statement, he's going to go through, what we are kind of going to look at as, a do and a don't list.
Jeffrey Heine:Do these things, don't do these things. He's going to go through 7 different do's and don'ts. And I do want to make one little aside here at the start. If you are not a Christian, and you think that church and and and religion is is is really made up of a bunch of do's and don'ts. I I want I want to speak to you right now and and just say that the listeners who who were hearing this for the very first time, 1st century, they knew that they were saved, that they were reconciled with God.
Jeffrey Heine:They were adopted into God's household, God's family through grace. They knew that. They knew that they were not earning this affection from God the father in any way. They weren't earning it, but they were going to live it out, and they needed instruction as to how. And for those of you that are Christians, I want you to know and to be reminded at the start here, that as we hold fast to the truth that we are saved by grace, we are called and redeemed and saved for something.
Jeffrey Heine:We are called and saved for the glory of God in the life of the world, which means that there is a living to be done. There are do's and don'ts, things that we need to be active in seeking out and doing, and there are things that need to be restricted. And so we're going to look through 7 do's and don'ts that will help us, as Peter has set out here, to know how to live as exiles. What holy living looks like for the exiles. So we will go through, these 7 together.
Jeffrey Heine:The first one the first one is this. It's a do not. It's in verse 12. The first one is do not be surprised by suffering. Do not be surprised by suffering.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 12, read with me. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. I think it can be helpful for all of us to, admit and kind of look at the fact that we have an idea of what it means to be a Christian. We have a concept of what it looks like to follow Jesus. It's not wrong that we have these ideas and this concept of what it means, these expectations.
Jeffrey Heine:For many of us, we grew up around Christian adults, either in our homes or in the surrounding community. And so we have this idea. We we have history of Christians throughout the centuries. We we have an idea of what it means to be a 21st American Christian. We have these ideas, and we acclimate to those ideas.
Jeffrey Heine:What we should expect for the day to day. This idea, and it shapes what we think is around the corner. See, everyone suffers in different ways. Different times, different seasons, different measures. There isn't a universality in the way that we all suffer, but there is a universality that everyone does suffer.
Jeffrey Heine:In some way, in some measure, at some time. Last week I was in Chicago, and, I left early in the morning from Birmingham. And and so it was I mean, it was just kind of a breeze walking through the airport. I went from my, front door to the gate at at Birmingham terminal. I I in 15 minutes, my door to the gate was laid back and easy.
Jeffrey Heine:Morgan Freeman was telling me what to do. It was fantastic, I got to my gate, and then I get on the plane, and then I land in Chicago, and everything is moving fast around me. It's 9 AM. It is go time, and everybody is on their way. And it took me a little while to get acclimated.
Jeffrey Heine:But soon enough, I did. I was jumping on the trains and jumping off as though I was a local and kind of looking funny at the people who didn't know how to work the card reader and all that stuff, which was me an hour before. But you just you just kinda acclimate. And we do that with our Christian lives too, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill. See, because no one wants to seek out suffering.
Jeffrey Heine:No one desires that challenge to suffer. No one wants to be reviled, maligned, outcast. No one seeks that out. Now a problem that we have is that for many of us, and I know for myself, that I really want my Christian life to be indiscernible from just the average American life. Family, kids, job, home, all I I want almost indiscernible.
Jeffrey Heine:I just wanna acclimate. I wanna take some of these Christian ideas that I agree with and I can nod my head with, and just kind of do what everybody else does. We've acclimated to an American ideal, where suffering surprises us. It catches us off guard. And often when it comes, we ask why.
Jeffrey Heine:Why is this happening? And it's no wonder that suffering is often a pretense for questioning the very existence of God. Suffering is so surprising and out of the ordinary. Something strange is going on here, because it abolishes our false notion that we are in control. And I acclimate to these ideas that I am in control.
Jeffrey Heine:I acclimate to these ideas that my faith is a personal thing, and it really shouldn't have any influence, or or shouldn't really make any waves for anyone else. It's it's a private thing. It's a personal thing. And if it's revileable, that's my fault. I stepped out of the boundaries that are socially acceptable when it comes to faith.
Jeffrey Heine:See, Peter isn't talking about suffering in general here. He's talking about something very specific. He's talking about not being surprised when suffering comes to the Christian because they are a Christian. Here, Peter is emphasizing that suffering because of the name of Jesus, and ultimately, the great grace that comes with being identified with him in that name and in that suffering is something worthy of our rejoicing. Not being surprised by it, but anticipating it, and then when it comes, rejoicing.
Jeffrey Heine:We should not be surprised when this kind of suffering comes. In fact, we should expect it. We should anticipate that genuine and earnest followers of Christ will be reviled. Not always, but at times. And we need to ask ourselves, if we are right now, or if we ever have experienced that.
Jeffrey Heine:And if we have, why? And if we have not, why not? It's worthy of our consideration, because he tells us first, do not be surprised. The second one, we find it in verse 13. It's, do rejoice when you suffer.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 13. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, That you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. When suffering comes, Peter says, we are called to rejoice. Why? Because our suffering distinguishes us as followers of Christ, and it relates us to Christ in a really unique and extraordinary way.
Jeffrey Heine:When we suffer because of Jesus, we relate to him. We we connect with him in a really unique and and special way because we are sharing in his suffering. We are sharing in when he is reviled, when we do that on the account of him. And not only that, but our suffering and rejoicing, it prepares us for his return. For one, we long for all suffering to end.
Jeffrey Heine:When you are in a season of suffering, you look at other suffering people differently. Have you experienced that before? When you've been in a time of sorrow and hurt, you relate to other people who are sorrowful, and who are hurting. I remember after a death in my family, being at church the next Sunday, and being really comforted when I saw other people who were still singing, when I knew that there was pain and sorrow in their life. When I looked around and I saw people who I knew were going through something, very challenging and difficult, and I heard them sing.
Jeffrey Heine:I heard them delight in the goodness of God in the midst of suffering and sadness. But really, the reason that I had eyes to see it was because I was also sorrowful. I was looking for it. Are those people here? Did we just sing, bless the Lord, oh my soul, amongst people who are in suffering, who are sorrowful?
Jeffrey Heine:When we are suffering, we have eyes to see others who are suffering. We long for it all to end. We long for justice. We look for the others who are out outcasts. We we look for others who are maligned.
Jeffrey Heine:We look for those things. We see them with different eyes. The end of suffering is when his glory is revealed. Those who hope in Christ know that the end of suffering comes when he comes with the fullness of his kingdom, where he brings an end to injustice and he brings compassion to a reconciled world. This day is something that Peter has already talked about.
Jeffrey Heine:He talked about it in chapter 2. When the day of visitation would come, when those who were saying all of these wicked things about the Christians, where they would actually turn and rejoice because of the good that these believers had done. They would praise the name of God at the day of visitation. Peter's already referred to this, and now he's bringing our attention again. That when this glory is revealed, when the glory is revealed, and the suffering comes to an end, we can rejoice.
Jeffrey Heine:Our rejoicing and suffering now prepares us for the rejoicing that comes when Christ comes. And that's the connection that Peter wants us to see. This was prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 5, when he says, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. We long for that day, and we long for it all the more when we suffer. 3rd thing, do see insults as blessings.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at verse 14 with me. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Part of what Peter is calling us to in in this holy living, this exilic living, this living as an exile, living otherly in the midst of a different world. What he's calling us into here is that we would see things differently. We would not see the world as it first appears to us.
Jeffrey Heine:We wouldn't take things at first glance. We would look harder. We would look longer. And many of these things that we would see, at first glance, as the insult, he says, is a blessing. When that insult comes to you, suffering on the account of Jesus, because of the name of Jesus, when we suffer for him and his sake, That insult is a blessing, that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory and of God is resting upon us, that there is a presence that comes in our suffering.
Jeffrey Heine:That God is present with us. He is near to us. Near to the brokenhearted. As we share in his sufferings, this closeness to God, we would experience that in suffering. So as we rejoice in the suffering, we also receive these insults as blessings.
Jeffrey Heine:Another place where we see this teaching, and actually from the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. This is from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says these words. He's talking about how we view things differently, how we see things upside down now.
Jeffrey Heine:That people are blessed who are poor in spirit. People are blessed who are mourners, the meek, those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. And then in verse 10 and 11, let me read these words to you. The words of Jesus. He says this, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 11. Blessed are you when others revile you, and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets before you. What Jesus is is teaching here and what Peter is reiterating to us is that we cannot look at things with this first glance at how they first appear.
Jeffrey Heine:We have to look longer. We have to look harder, and we have to see that these insults, this reviling, not only is connecting us with Christ in a unique way, that his presence of his spirit is there in a unique way, but it is a blessing. That means that the presence and blessing of God is on those who suffer on Christ's account. This unique relationship is established in sharing in the sufferings of his account. So the question comes to us, how do you respond to suffering?
Jeffrey Heine:Do you see it as a blessing? Do you see it as an opportunity to experience the presence of God in a unique and meaningful way? Do you do you see it like that? I don't always see it like that. In fact, I try to live in such a way that these things just never happen.
Jeffrey Heine:And what I realize when I see these words is that when I try to avoid that kind of suffering, I'm ultimately trying to avoid that kind of blessing. You see that? That when I am trying to, to keep my life in such a manner that really, I am trying my best to avoid this present blessing from God. Now, this suffering, like I said, is particular. And here in the, in the 4th do or don't is, is a, is a further, narrowing for us to really see what this suffering is that we're being called into.
Jeffrey Heine:The 4th one is this, do not suffer for wrongdoing. Do not suffer for wrongdoing. Look with me in verse 15, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Now this is a pretty intense verse here, because Peter is saying that there are lots of reasons that we can suffer reviling and persecution in the world. There are lots of reasons why we can experience that.
Jeffrey Heine:And he kind of breaks them into 2 different categories. There is the suffering for unrighteous reasons and suffering for righteous reasons. They're suffering for right doing, and they're suffering for wrongdoing. And he is prohibiting that in any way that we should suffer for wrongdoing. That's not acceptable.
Jeffrey Heine:We can't, we can't do wrong and then suffer, and somehow say that that is me growing as a disciple of Jesus. That somehow that is a demonstration of me following Jesus. And the problem is, we see a lot of this. We see a lot of arrogance and rudeness in our culture from Christians, and they cite that when they are reviled, as they naturally would be, they cite that as on the account of Christ. And you and I, we we we know, whether you're a Christian or not a Christian in this room, you know that that can't be okay.
Jeffrey Heine:You know that that can't be on the account of Christ. We're called to something else. It's also pretty intense here as he is, listing out this prohibition, this wrongdoing and the suffering that would come, Because of course, these people would be reviled. Of course, these people would would suffer, being an outcast for doing these things. He starts off with a murder.
Jeffrey Heine:I would imagine a number of the people in the congregation, when they first heard that, they're like, okay. Not a murderer. Good. Haven't haven't been suffering for that kind of wrongdoing. Then he moves to a thief.
Jeffrey Heine:Fewer people are kind of jazzed about that, but like now it's it's still not it's not everybody. An evil doer that's kind of a wide net. And then he moves to the meddler. A meddler, a word that we have a sense of what it means, but it's kind of hard like to put it in really precise terms, but we know it when we see it. We know when someone's been meddling with us, that's for sure.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't really know when I'm meddling in other people's business, but when other people start meddling in my life, that I know. But of course, that person is going to be maligned and and reviled. A meddler, Someone who gets in someone else's domain, or responsibility, or concern that is not their own. They get in someone else's, and they try and seize control. Calvin actually takes this meddler to be similar to covetousness.
Jeffrey Heine:You desire to be in someone else's business like it's your business. What Peter has done here is taken us from a murderer. That's a big deal. I I don't I know I'm not that guy. And all the way across the spectrum to the everyday meddler.
Jeffrey Heine:It's in everything in between. We can't suffer for those things. Anyone can suffer for those things. Anyone should suffer for those things, but not us, not the children of god. So he says, do not do not suffer for wrongdoing.
Jeffrey Heine:Suffer for righteousness. Suffer as a Christian, which leads us to the 5th. Do not be ashamed. Verse 16. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
Jeffrey Heine:This is one of the few times in the new testament where the term Christian is actually used. Only a handful of times has it ever happened. And, and really what's occurring here is Peter is lay is calling out that insult term, Christian. And he's saying, live into that. Live into being identified with Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:See, now it's a it's a marketable term. You know, it's everything from t shirts to little wood carvings of husbands holding their wives. It's it's just a it's a market thing, Christian. It's a kind of music. It's a kind of health food.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, it's just it's it's everything. But at that time you know those, like, Moses bars and all these random things? Because Moses had, like, a snack food line that everyone had to eat, and they were all healthy. Anyway, it becomes this just marketable thing. It becomes this generic term, but what's happening here is it's an insult.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a very precise insult. And Peter is calling them to live into it. Live into that insult. May it be your soul's desire to be identified with that kind of insult. May you glory in it.
Jeffrey Heine:May you rejoice in it. Not as a wrongdoer. Anyone can be a wrongdoer. You are a child of God. Live into the name Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't be ashamed of it. Now at this time in Asia Minor, this first hearer of Peter's letter, that was a shame based culture. And when they were maligned, when they were reviled, that that meant that not only was their reputation ruined, but probably their livelihood. Their ability to be in the marketplace, to sell things, to buy things, to provide for their families. It could ruin everything really quickly.
Jeffrey Heine:And we don't live in the same kind of shame based culture, so so to not be ashamed is kind of a different thing. In fact, we we kind of shirked that off, and and real we still want acceptance. We we we still want people to like us. We want approval, but we can actually even gain that through shame. I mean, that's essentially what reality television is.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, there are game shows where people try to marry each other. Right? Where where people will eat disgusting things, and where intimate movies can be leaked, and that's actually a way that someone gains approval and acceptance. And some of that's because they just have enough money, and that's their defense. They'll take whatever shame is necessary to get the money, because the money is how they get that acceptance and approval.
Jeffrey Heine:And maybe it's, you know, maybe it's not just money, but it's it's fame, it's attention. And that's how I feed this desperate need for approval. And so the shame that comes from being identified as Christian, we if you're like me, you skirt that sometimes. You kind of want to get around that. You don't want to be reviled for that.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't want the kind of faith that's revileable. I struggle with this all the time. I struggle all the time with my deep desire for approval and approval and acceptance from others. I even want people I don't like to like me. That's crazy.
Jeffrey Heine:Right? Like that's a crazy thing. But even people I don't like, I crave their acceptance and approval. So I have to go back all the time to Paul's words to the Galatians. Galatians 1 10, he says this, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
Jeffrey Heine:Am I trying to please man? And then he says this, hear this. Now listen to me carefully. Right? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:I have to go back to this. Can you cosign that statement? In the depths of your heart, can you say, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. In this confession, he's really saying 3 things. 1, I used to try to please man.
Jeffrey Heine:I used to go after the approval of other people. Secondly, he says, trying to please man is at odds with pleasing God. It's at odds with being a servant of Christ. And the third thing, I am a servant of Christ, I am not trying to please man anymore. I need to hear that.
Jeffrey Heine:I need to hear that over and over and over. I need to know that he's confessing that too, because he experiences that pull, that fleshly desire to crave the acceptance of other people. And he knows that as a servant of Christ, that he has the acceptance of God, that he has the acceptance of God the father, who loves him and knows him and will not let him go. I have to come back to that. To put this into marriage language, it's forsaking all others and going with him.
Jeffrey Heine:It brings us to, our 6th do and don't. It is do expect judgment. Verse 17 and 18. For it is time for judgment to begin in the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Jeffrey Heine:Then he quotes Proverbs 11:31. He says this, if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? What Peter is talking about here is that we should expect judgment, which is purification, discipline. This is coming first to the household of God. I love that phrase, the church, the household of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Judgment, purification is coming first to us, That we will be disciplined as his children, a purging of sin, not suffering for wrongdoing, a letting go of that formal former life and living into this name, Christian. And it begins with us. And then he quotes that proverb, that it is with great difficulty and struggle that the righteous is saved like a ship going through a massive storm to get safely to port. It's with great challenge that it happens, but he gets there. And Peter asks, so if God permits this kind of suffering to happen within the church, what's gonna happen to those what should be expected for those who reject the gospel of God?
Jeffrey Heine:If he's gonna allow this kind of suffering to happen to his children, What's going to happen to those who reject him? And our 7th and last one, do entrust your soul to God and do good. In this one sentence, he really summarizes so much that he has said from chapter 2, 3, and 4. He summarizes this in in this, this last statement on suffering. If you suffer according to what God has willed, that is God's will in this suffering is when you suffer for righteousness on the account of the name of Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:So when that happens, when you are suffering according to his will, you entrust your soul, your whole being to your creator. Your creator. Now what's what's tied into the name creator there is, is also the possessor and keeper. The maker, possessor, and keeper. So you entrust yourself.
Jeffrey Heine:You give yourself over to the one who made you and can keep you. In the midst of all that suffering, in the midst of the sorrow, where he calls you to rejoice, where he calls you to trust him. Entrust yourself to him and while doing good, Serving that common good, serving your city, serving the people around you. How? Well, he really practically talked about that.
Jeffrey Heine:The last two sermons here on hospitality and the sermon on our gifts. These gifts that God has given us to serve one another in the household of God. To do that good while entrusting And and who can keep us. It's a very practical list of do's and don'ts. Sometimes we like, sermons that are, deep or theologically challenging, and then they, we don't have to do anything but nod and agree with it.
Jeffrey Heine:This is definitely one of those times where we leave with something to do. Very clear statement. It can be a bit startling at times. I would rather have some theological thing that I can just think about, have interesting conversations about at coffee shops, and I don't have to do anything. But Christ has saved us for something, for the glory of God and for the life of the world.
Jeffrey Heine:And we are called to live into those things. Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist preacher, in the late 1800, he he said this in a sermon on suffering, I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. Let me say it again, especially for you journalers. Alright. I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages.
Jeffrey Heine:Learning how to suffer on the account of Christ, learning how to suffer for righteousness in service to Jesus is a hard and lifelong lesson. And it's not a lesson that is learned in isolation. It is a lesson that is learned in the household of God, in the gathering, in a family. See, we need to learn these things together. We need to learn how to live into this name Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:We need to learn how to suffer and rejoice. We need to learn how to see insults as blessing. We need to learn how to do these things and how to not do these things together. We need to learn how in the midst of sorrow to sing. We need to learn how we we are reviled to be near to Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:And we need to learn to kiss the wave together. Let's pray together. God help us. Help us to think about these things and to grow in our trust of you and also to to obey you, to grow in our obedience. That we're not doing these things or not doing these things somehow to gain your approval or affection, not to gain our salvation, but Lord, help us to do these things or to not do these things that we might delight in you, that we might declare the gospel, the gospel of grace.
Jeffrey Heine:Help us to live into these things for your glory and for the life of the world. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.
